TML will be on vacation from July 13-Aug. 4. If anyone would like to fill in, please e-mail me and we will arrange it. Thank you.
Welcome to The Mad Logophile. Here, we explore words; their origins, evolution, usage. Words are alive; they are born, they change and, sometimes, they die. They are our principal tool for communicating with one another. There are one million words in the English language yet only an estimated 171,476 words are in common current use. As a logophile, I enjoy discovering new words, using them and learning about their origins.
It's finally here! By popular demand, collective nouns is the topic today. A special tip of the hat to Louise who suggested the title for this diary.
Let's start with the Animal Kingdom, sub-genre, Birds, which are, in general, known as a congregation, dissimulation, flight, flock or volery:
A chain of bobolinks
A bellowing of bullfinches
A flock of bustards
A wake of buzzards
A muse of capons
A brood of chickens (AKA; clutch, peep)
A covert of coots
A flight of cormorants (AKA; gulp)
A sedge of cranes
A murder of crows
A head of curlews
A dole of doves (AKA; flight, piteousness)
A flush of ducks (AKA; badelynge, brace, bunch, dopping, flock, paddling, plump, raft, safe, skein, sord, string, team)
A convocation of eagles (AKA; aerie)
A cast of falcons
A charm of finches (AKA; chirm, trembling, trimming)
A stand of flamingos
A gaggle of geese (AKA; flock, plump, skein, team, wedge)
A charm of goldfinches (AKA; chattering, drum, troubling)
A colony of gulls
A mews of hawks (AKA; aerie, cast, kettle, mew, molting, screw, stream)
A brood of hens
A sedge of herons (AKA; flight, hedge, rookery, siege)
A charm of hummingbirds (AKA: chattering, drum, troubling)
A colony of ibises
A band of jays (AKA; party, scold)
An exaltation of larks (AKA; ascension, bevy, flight)
A congregation of magpies (AKA; charm, flock, gulp, murder, tiding, tittering, tribe, )
A sord of mallards (AKA; flush, puddling, sute)
A watch of nightingales (AKA; match, pray)
A pride of ostriches (AKA; flock)
A parliament of owls (AKA; stare)
A company of parrots (AKA; flock, pandemonium, psittacosis)
A covey of partridges (AKA; bevy, bew, clutch, warren)
A muster of peacocks (AKA: ostentation, pride)
A pod of pelicans (AKA: scoop)
A colony of penguins (AKA; parcel, rookery)
A cadge of peregrines
A nye of pheasants (AKA; bouquet, head, nide, warren)
A flight of pigeons (AKA; flock, kit, passel)
A congregation of plovers (AKA; band, flight, leash, stand, wing)
A run of poultry
A covey of ptarmigans
A bevy of quails (AKA; covey, drift)
An unkindness of ravens (AKA; aerie, conspiracy)
A crowd of redwings
A clamor of rooks (AKA; building, parliament, congregation, shoal, wing)
A fling of sandpipers
A cloud of seafowl
A squabble of seagulls
A walk of snipe (AKA; wisp)
A host of sparrows (AKA; meinie, quarrel, tribe, ubiquity)
A murmuration of starlings (AKA; chattering, cloud, congregation, clutter)
A mustering of storks (AKA; flight, phalanx)
A flight of swallows (AKA; gulp)
A herd of swans (AKA; bank, bevy, drift, eyrar, game, herd, lamentation, sownder, squadron, team, wedge, whiteness, whiting)
A mutation of thrushes
A flock of turkeys (AKA: dole, dule, raffle, raft, rafter, posse)
A pitying of turtledoves
A colony of vultures (AKA; committee, wake)
A descent of woodpeckers
A herd of wrens (AKA; flock)
More critters! This time, mammals:
An aarmory of aardvarks
A cluster of antelopes (AKA; herd, tribe)
A shrewdness of apes (AKA; troop)
A pace of asses (AKA; drove, coffle, herd)
A flange of baboons (AKA; congress, troop)
A cloud of bats (AKA; colony)
A sloth of bears (AKA; sleuth)
A colony of beavers (AKA; family, lodge)
A herd of boars (AKA; singular, sounder)
A herd of bucks (AKA; leash)
A gang of buffalo/bison (herd, obstinacy)
A flock of camels (AKA; caravan, herd, train)
A herd of caribou
A clowder of cats (AKA; glaring, cluster, clutter, destruction, dowt)
A herd of cattle (AKA; drift, drove, mob)
A coalition of cheetahs
A pack of coyote (AKA; band, rout)
A rangale of deer (AKA; bunch, leash, mob, parcel)
A pack of dogs (AKA; kennel)
A pod of dolphins
A drove of donkeys
A parade of elephants
A gang of elk
A business of ferrets (AKA; cast, fesnying)
A skulk of foxes (AKA; earth, lead, leash, troop)
A journey of giraffes (AKA; corps, group, herd, tower)
An implausibility of gnu
A trip of goats (AKA; flock, herd, trip, tribe)
A whoop of gorillas
A leash of greyhounds
A horde of hamsters
A drove of hares (AKA; down, flick, herd, husk, kindle, leash, trace, trip)
An array of hedgehogs (AKA; prickle)
A parcel of hinds
A bloat of hippopotami (AKA; crash, herd, pod, school, thunder)
A drift of hogs (AKA; drove, parcel)
A stable of horses (AKA; drove, harras, herd, remuda, string, stud, team)
A pack of hounds (AKA; cry, hunt, kennel, leash, meet, mute, stable, sute)
A clan of hyenas
A couple of impalas
A husk of jackrabbits
A mob of kangaroos (AKA; troop)
A kindle of kittens
A fall of lambs
A leap of leopards (AKA; lepe)
A pride of lions (AKA; flock, sault, sawt, sowse, troop)
A mischief of mice (AKA; horde, nest, trip)
A labour of moles (AKA; company, movement)
A band of mongooses (AKA; pack)
A troop of monkeys (AKA: cartload, mission, tribe, wilderness)
A barren of mules (AKA: pack, rake, span)
A buffoonery of orangutans
A family of otters (AKA: bevy, raft, romp)
A team of oxen (AKA; drove, herd, meinie, span, yoke)
A pomp of pekingese
An aurora of polar bears (AKA: pack)
A chine of polecats
A prickle of porcupines
A coterie of prarie dogs (AKA: town)
A piddle of puppies
A gaze of raccoons (AKA; nursery)
A colony of rabbits (AKA; bury, drove, flick, kindle, leash, nest, trace, warren, wrack)
A field of racehorses (AKA; string)
A colony of rats (AKA; horde, mischief, swarm)
A crash of rhinoceroses (AKA; herd, stubbornness)
A colony of seals (AKA; harem, herd, pod, rookery, spring)
A drift of sheep (AKA; down, drove, fold, herd, meinie, mob, parcel, trip)
A surfeit of skunks
A dray of squirrels (AKA; colony)
A pack of stoats (AKA; trip)
An ambush of tigers (AKA; streak)
A huddle of walruses (AKA; herd, ugly)
A mob of wallaby
A sneak of weasels (AKA; gang, pack)
A school of whales (AKA; float, gam, herd, mob, pod, run, shoal, troup)
A destruction of wildcats (AKA; dout)
A pack of wolves (AKA; herd, rout)
A mob of wombats
A herd of yaks
A cohort of zebras (AKA; herd, zeal)
And other members of the Animal Kingdom:
A colony of ants (AKA; army, bike, swarm)
A battery of baracuda
A bike of bees (AKA; cast, cluster, drift, erst, game, grist, hive, rabble, stand)
A grind of blackfish
A flight of butterflies (AKA; kaleidoscope, rabble, swarm)
An army of caterpillars
A quiver of cobras
An intrusion of cockroaches
A bask of crocodiles (AKA: congregation, float, nest)
A confabulation of dragons (AKA; flight, weyr, wing)
A swarm of flies (AKA; business, cloud, grist, hatch)
A glide of flying fish
An army of frogs (AKA: colony, froggery, knot)
A rabble of gnats (AKA; horde, swarm)
A glint of goldfish (AKA; troubling)
A cloud of grasshoppers (AKA; cluster, swarm)
A mess of iguanas
A stuck of jellyfish (AKA; fluther, smack, smuth)
A loveliness of ladybirds
A plague of locusts (AKA; cloud, swarm)
An infestation of lice
A scourge of mosquitoes (AKA; swarm)
A pack of perch
A party of rainbow fish
A rhumba of rattlesnakes
A bind of salmon (AKA; draught, leap, run, school, shoal)
A shiver of sharks
A slither of slugs (I just made this up!)
An escargatoire of snails (AKA; rout, walk)
A clutter of spiders (AKA; cluster, web)
A fever of stingrays
A flotilla of swordfish
A taint of tilapia
A knot of toads (AKA; knob, nest)
A hover of trout
A float of tunas (AKA; troup)
A bale of turtles (AKA; dule, turn)
A blessing of unicorns
A clew of worms
Now it's our turn....
A faculty of academics
A bench of aldermen
A conflagration of arsonists
A tabernacle of bakers
A babble of barbers
A promise of barmen
A thought of barons
A squad of beaters
A bevy of beauties (AKA; galaxy)
A bench of bishops (AKA: psalter)
A blush of boys
A feast of brewers
A shuffle of bureaucrats
A goring of butchers
A sneer of butlers
A company of capitalists (AKA; syndicate)
A school of clerks
A cutting of cobblers (AKA; drunkship)
A hastiness of cooks
A shrivel of critics
A cowardice of curs
A decanter of deans (AKA; decorum)
A stalk of foresters
A talent of gamblers
A galaxy of governesses
A conjunction of grammarians
A herd of harlots
A melody of harpists
An observance of hermits
A blast of hunters
A bench of judges (AKA; sentence)
A neverthriving of jugglers
A banner of knights (AKA; rout)
An eloquence of lawyers
An illusion of magicians
A bench of magistrates
A riches of matrons
A morbidity of majors
A faith of merchants
A diligence of messengers
A side of morris dancers
A cortege of mourners
A superfluity of nuns (AKA; flap, murmur)
A curse of painters (AKA; illusion, misbelieving)
A malapertness of peddlers
A skirl of pipers (AKA; poverty)
A converting of preachers
A pity of prisoners
A scolding of seamstresses
A subtlety of sergeants at law
An obeisance of servants
A blackening of shoemakers
A simplicity of subalterns
A disguising of tailors
A glozing of taverners
A flock of tourists
An unction of undertakers
A prudence of vicars
An ambush of widows
A coven of witches (AKA grove, circle)
A gang of workmen
A worship of writers
A fellowship of yeomen
And things which don't fit either category:
A wing of aircraft (AKA; flight, squadron)
A host of angels (AKA; chorus, pinhead)
A belt of asteroids
A grove of bayonets
A carillon of bells (AKA; change, peal)
A bavin of brushwood
A dossier of documents
A clutch of eggs
A bundle of firewood
A bed of flowers (AKA; bouquet, bunch, patch)
A colony of fungi
A pantheon of gods
A bunch of grapes (AKA; cluster)
A battery of guns
A budget of inventions
A chain of islands (AKA: archipelago)
A cache of jewels
A ring of keys
A fleet of trucks (AKA; convoy)
A rouleau of coins
A collective of nouns (and a college of collective nouns)
A bank of monitors
A troop of mushrooms
A rope of onions
A coterie of orchids
A budget of papers
A string of pearls (AKA; rope)
A phantasmagoria of phantoms
A rosary of quotations (AKA; mellificium)
A clump of reeds
A rabble of remedies
A nest of rumors
A fleet of ships (AKA; armada, flotilla)
A shrubbery of shrubs
An agenda of tasks
A stand of trees (AKA; clump, forest, grove)
The collective nouns below are not in general use. But if we start using them, they might become the given term:
A balance of accountants
A bridge of admirals
A corps of anatomists
A conflagration of arsonists
A blur of bicyclists
A bond of British secret agents
An audit of bookkeepers
A rascal of boys
A clutch of car mechanics
A load of cobblers
An unease of compromises
A galaxy of cosmologists
An intrigue of council members
A brace of dentists
A grid of electricians
A blush of embarrassments
A design of engineers (or a geek)
An exaggeration of fishermen
A revelation of flashers
A formation of geologists
A fraid of ghosts (or a fright)
A giggle of girls
A debauchery of Hedonists
An expectation of heirs
A scale of ichthyologists
A vagary of impediments
A diffidence of introverts
An assemblage of jigsaw puzzlers
A scoop of journalists
A flush of lavatories
An autumn of leaves
A stack of librarians
A babble of linguists
A Sousa of marching bands
A number of mathematicians
A compromise of mediators
An amalgamation of metallurgists
A shower of meteorologists
An expectation of midwives
An annoyance of mobile phones
A pathos of mourners
An annoyance of neighbors
A row of oarsmen
An abandonment of orphans
A handful of palm readers
A body of pathologists
A virtue of patients
A ponder of philosophers
A clique of photographers
A nucleus of physicists
A flush of plumbers
A lie of politicians
A buttload of proctologists
An archive of programmers
A whored of prostitutes
A complex of psychologists
A groan of puns
A blaze of pyromaniacs
A melee of rioters
A crush of shoppers
A billow of smokers
A sweetness of sopranos
A beautification of spatulas
A portfolio of stockbrokers
A fanfare of strumpets
A pack of suitcases
A wave of surfers
A boo of surprises
A fidget of suspects
An assembly of toys
A jam of tarts
A hug of teddy bears
An attitude of teenagers (or a sulk)
A terror of terriers
A pander of toadies
A promise of tomorrows
A twinkling of todays
A cancellation of trains
An equanimity of tranquilizers
An amble of walkers
An order of waiters
A linkage of webmasters
A charlotte of webpages
A bend of willows
A break of winds
An impatience of wives
A babel of words
A yearning of yesterdays
An optimism of youths
Last week, homogenius gave us a few examples of collective nouns that he has coined:
A Portfolio of Yuppies
An Extinction of Goopers
A Capitulation of Democrats
A Cowardice of Young Republicans
A Corsair of Corporatists
An Adulation of Journalists
Now YOU give it a try...