Collective nouns

[MacLeod]

Yes my mistake I edited my post afterwards and didn't see my mistake. I meant a flock works for Sheep as well as Birds.

 

[thestrangequark]

Oh, and a collection of old socks? How about a fragrance?

 

[Miss Chicken]

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I vaguely remember hearing a story about how the "congress of baboons" thing was a joke in a movie or something, but fell into parlance and wound up in a primatology book or something, because the author thought it was the real term. Maybe I am misremembering, though.

It's definitely been meme-ing it's way around FaceBook as of late.

Yes, I think you are right - I am sure I heard that explanation during a science podcast.

I think there should be specialised term for a collection of odd socks - suggestions, please.

If you listen to The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe then I bet that's where we both heard it!

Yes, I listen to the SGU, so it was probably there we heard it.

Oh, and a collection of old socks? How about a fragrance?

Very suitable for old socks but I was asking about odd socks - I have a collection of about a dozen or more waiting for ther partner to turn up.

 

[scotpens]

List of collective nouns - Wiki

Some of the more fanciful terms -- "a murder of crows," "an exaltation of larks," "a drunkenship of cobblers" -- sound like tongue-in-cheek coinages that someone invented as a joke.

I mean, really -- "a whoop of gorillas"?

I really think there should this one

"a trek of nerds".

How about "away team." An away team of nerds.

That's landing party, dammit!

How about "an engorgement of dicks"?

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Oh, and a collection of old socks? How about a fragrance?

Very suitable for old socks but I was asking about odd socks - I have a collection of about a dozen or more waiting for ther partner to turn up.

An oddity of socks?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

For instance one of the collective terms was a 'superfluidity of nuns' which is term I have never used, heard used and - before reading the list - had never even seen in print.

Well, no. Close, but not actually.

According to Oxford University Press, it is:

a superfluity of nuns

Yes, I just corrected that on my previous post and I did mention that I thought both terms could suit i.e. a superfluity of nuns (especially could be used if you are attending a Catholic school) but a whole group of nuns flowing out of a church could be a superfluidity.

Right, my post must have been in progress when you posted your correction.

I question whether superfluidity is correct at all, though. Superfluity has to do with being superfluous or being in excess, and I can see that leading to a group noun. Superfluidity, having to do with flowing (if not in fact flowing like a superfluid near absolute zero) is quite poetic, but....

 

[Miss Chicken]

I mean, really -- "a whoop of gorillas"?

Yes, I have never heard it used. Personally I would say a troop of gorillas., or a gorilla troop.

question whether superfluidity is correct at all, though. Superfluity has to do with being superfluous or being in excess, and I can see that leading to a group noun. Superfluidity, having to do with flowing (if not in fact flowing like a superfluid near absolute zero) is quite poetic, but...

Maybe just a 'fluidity of nuns'? or just a 'flow of nuns'.

 

[thestrangequark]

Yes, I think you are right - I am sure I heard that explanation during a science podcast.

I think there should be specialised term for a collection of odd socks - suggestions, please.

If you listen to The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe then I bet that's where we both heard it!

Yes, I listen to the SGU, so it was probably there we heard it.

Oh, and a collection of old socks? How about a fragrance?

Very suitable for old socks but I was asking about odd socks - I have a collection of about a dozen or more waiting for ther partner to turn up.

Ah, I misread odd as old.

Is there a collective noun for freckles? What about for irrational fears?

 

[Miss Chicken]

Just looked freckles up and the only suggestion I came across was 'a tan of freckles'.

Wouldn't it just be 'an array of fears'?

 

[thestrangequark]

^I think a sprinkling or smattering of freckles works better. Or a dusting.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Also for those who first language is not English, or those who have a good command of another language - do those language have many, or only a few collective nouns?

Italian does have collective nouns, used pretty much in the same instances (una mandria di vacche, "a herd of cows"; uno stormo di uccelli, "a flock of birds"; una colonia di formiche, "a colony of ants"; etc), but it doesn't have as many as English.

List of collective nouns - Wiki

Some of the more fanciful terms -- "a murder of crows," "an exaltation of larks," "a drunkenship of cobblers" -- sound like tongue-in-cheek coinages that someone invented as a joke.

According to wiki, "The tradition of using "terms of venery" or "nouns of assembly"—collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals—stems from an English hunting tradition of the Late Middle Ages."

 

[thestrangequark]

^Hey, I was right! I said that in my first post!

 

[scotpens]

According to wiki, "The tradition of using "terms of venery" or "nouns of assembly"—collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals—stems from an English hunting tradition of the Late Middle Ages."

Yes, I noted that. To come up with some of those collective terms, those medieval English hunters must have been joking. Or drunk.

 

[SmoothieX]

Superfluidity sounds like something I would have run out of the lab from in college and called the fire department.

(Fluids lab was in the basement of an old candy factory, late in the afternoon, and boring as anything.)

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I thought it was a congress of baboons.

Isn't it a troop? Or is that just for smaller monkeys, like Macaques?

I certainly don't use a Parliament of Owls, Murder of Crows, etc. But I try to remember them for trivia purposes.

I do use herd, pack, flock, bunch, pod, and pride (although, for pack and pride, it literally has to be a unified group, not just a bunch of them together).

ETA: I see that's how the Baboon discussion started, making my post superfluous.

 

[Jono]

Always liked a leap of leopards. Makes them sound fun and cuddly.

As for a group of nerds, how about a revenge of nerds.

 

[SmoothieX]

I just go with pack or herd or flock unless I know better. Not like they care if I mess it up.

 

[Gryffindorian]

I like to make up my own.

A stench of skunks
A conduit of gophers
A conference of hobos/homeless
A levitation (also, temptation) of hookers/prostitutes
A glaze of policemen/officers
An asylum of managers/bosses
A reverberation of musicians, saxophonists, trumpeteers, cellists, violinists, etc.

A deviation of psychopaths
A gavel of judges
A conglomerate of Ferengi
A pulpit (also, communion) of ministers, priests, pastors
A flight of vampires
A pack (also, howling) of werewolves
A cadaver (also, army) of zombies
A royalty of kings/queens
A crown (also, curtsey) of princes/princesses
A baboon of congressmen/congresswomen
A coven of witches
A league of doctors/physicians
A legion of lawyers/attorneys
A conjugation of porn stars
An orbit of astronauts
A party (also, ledger) of accountants
A roast of chefs
A cackle of comedians, comics, entertainers
A misery of bartenders, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors
An ostentation of models/supermodels
A guild of actors/actresses
A plume of writers, authors, novelists
A flash of photographers, paparazzi
A corps (also, nerd) of engineers
An amalgam of dentists
A slaughter of creditors/lenders
A tome of teachers/professors
An infestation of telemarketers, solicitors

 

[Captrek]

Look at that bunch of cows.

Not bunch. Herd.

Heard what?

Herd of cows.

Sure I've heard of cows.

No, a cow herd.

Why should I care what a cow heard? I've no secrets from a cow.​

Well, it was funny when I was nine.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

I found a rather long list of English collective nouns: http://www.rinkworks.com/words/collective.shtml

In German, we do have a few but not remotely as many. While ours root in hunting language as well, hunting was never such a popular occupation here as it used to be (and still is) in Britain. I assume that is the reason why we have so few collective nouns.

It seems to me that threre is a general trend in English to be a language with a huge vocabulary. There appears to be a word for every single shade of a meaning. It often drives me into despair when looking up a word: for every German noun, verb or adjective there are 10 to 20 meanings in English.

Example:
German : starren
English: gape, gaze, goggle, peer, scowl, stare at so/sth, stare into space...