Names for Groupings in the English Language

DGF

Jedi
A friend of mine sent me this in the email. I thought you guys would like it.


The English language has some wonderfully anthropomorphic collective nouns for the various groups of animals.











We are all familiar with a Herd of cows, a Flock of chickens, a School of fish and a Gaggle of geese.


However, less widely known is a Pride of lions, a Murder of crows (as well as their cousins the rooks and ravens), an Exaltation of doves, and, presumably because they look so wise, a Parliament of owls.


Now consider a group of Baboons. They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least intelligent of all primates. And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons? Believe it or not ...... a Congress!


I guess that pretty much explains the things that come out of Washington.
 
Interesting to know those colletive nouns, especially for the non native english speakers. Thanks for sharing.
 
Here's some of the best from a british birds website -

a raft of auks

a chain of bobolinks

a wake of buzzards

a piteousness of doves

a charm of goldfinches

a stand of flamingoes

a lek of grouse

a bazaar of guillemots

a confusion of guinea fowl

a screech of gulls

a siege of herons

a scold of jays

a desert of lapwings

an exaltation of larks

a tidings of magpies

a richness of martins

a watch of nightingales

a stare of owls

a pandemonium of parrots

an ostentation of peacocks

a parcel of penguins

a bouquet of pheasants

a congregation of plovers

an unkindness of ravens

a parliament of rooks

a wisp of snipe

a fling of sandpipers

a quarrel of sparrows

a murmuration of starlings (me favorite)

a phalanx of storks

a spring of teal

a raffle of turkeys

a descent of woodpeckers

a herd of wrens :lol:

_http://www.britishbirdlovers.co.uk/articles/collective-nouns-for-birds.htm
 
Mice / Mischief
Kittens / kindle, intrigue
Cats / pounce, clowder

Mice
_http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_group_of_mice_called

Cats & kittens (names for all stages)
_http://www.brighthub.com/parenting/household-pets/articles/90590.aspx#secn_3

lol congress/baboons, wake/voltures, awe ferrets/business (sly & cute)
 
Wikipedia has a very extensive list of names for groupings, a.k.a. collective nouns. There are many weird and funny ones in there, worth a gander.

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_collective_nouns

:)
 
Well geeze. I've been saying a Flock of Turtles and Herd of Geese for years...
You mean I'm wrong.?.?.? Ohhh, all those people I've misled...
:whistle: :whistle: :whistle:
 
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