Collective nouns for logophiles
April 29th 2009 23:57
What's the collective noun for a group of lions? A group of vipers? What about crows? If you said pride, nest, and murder, respectively, you're correct. These terms are somewhat familiar to speakers of English, but there may be others that are less well-known. Try to figure out these following terms:
Choose the correct answer:
Oh, and what's the name for a group of fish? If you said school, you're right. Kind of a weird term, isn't it? That's because the original term was shoal. An incorrect transcription, replicated in subsequent texts, led to the term that we know today. And here's one for my Australian friends: what's a group of kangaroos? A mob or a troop.
Collective nouns aren't just for birds and other critters; there's also the human animal. Consider the following terms; can you figure them out?
Fill in the blanks:
What we need now is a collective noun to describe a group of bloggers. Hmm...A roll of bloggers? A subscription of bloggers? A carnival of bloggers?
My source for the collective nouns mentioned in this post is James Lipton's An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition (Penguin Books, 1991).
For an online source of collective nouns, see The Collective Noun Page.
Answers to the list of animals: Peacocks, swans, eagles, smelt, ferrets.
Answers to the list of people: Priests, soldiers, lawyers, servants, peddlers.
- An ostentation of ______. (blue jays, flamingos, peacocks)
- A wedge of ______. (swallows, swans, robins)
- A convocation of ______. (eagles, owls, vultures)
- An army of ______. (herring, cod, smelt)
- A business of ______. (gerbils, ferrets, bats)
Oh, and what's the name for a group of fish? If you said school, you're right. Kind of a weird term, isn't it? That's because the original term was shoal. An incorrect transcription, replicated in subsequent texts, led to the term that we know today. And here's one for my Australian friends: what's a group of kangaroos? A mob or a troop.
Collective nouns aren't just for birds and other critters; there's also the human animal. Consider the following terms; can you figure them out?
Fill in the blanks:
- A mass of ______.
- A boast of ______.
- A eloquence of ______.
- An obeisance of ______.
- An impudence of ______.
What we need now is a collective noun to describe a group of bloggers. Hmm...A roll of bloggers? A subscription of bloggers? A carnival of bloggers?
My source for the collective nouns mentioned in this post is James Lipton's An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition (Penguin Books, 1991).
For an online source of collective nouns, see The Collective Noun Page.
Answers to the list of animals: Peacocks, swans, eagles, smelt, ferrets.
Answers to the list of people: Priests, soldiers, lawyers, servants, peddlers.
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