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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 11
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 11 |
Forgive me if this has been done before - I'm a very new recruit!
For example, a charm of goldfinches, a pride of lions, an exaltation of larks and a gaggle of geese.
Sara.
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
A very warm welcome, Sara, and congratulations on finding your way "below the fold" - these fora(?) are often sadly neglected. I think that this has been discussed before, but I don't care, as it gives me an excuse to repeat that my three favourites are, a lamentation of swans, a murder of crows, and an unkindness of ravens. 
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
A lick of chocolate p______.  [gonna-get-this-into-the-lexicon-anyhow emoticon]
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Sparteye: Why do they have to be chocolate?
Would dill do?
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 387
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 387 |
Yeah, I usually associate lick with ice cream.
jimthedog
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Joined: May 2001
Posts: 28
newbie
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newbie
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 28 |
A very good online resource for the various faunic(?) collectives is at:
http://www.ojohaven.com/collectives/
I would lobby here (as I have elsewhere) for "a scrum of reporters," and "a skitch of bicycle messengers." Any other ideas?
[thanks, all, for permitting me a new forum for my semi-mad ramblings] :-)
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
the various faunic(?) collectives Hello, slovovoi. I believe that the term you are searching for is "terms of venery," so-called because they proliferated as the result of a game played by the British aristocracy a century or two ago, when hunting parties began creating collective nouns for the game animals they sought to slaughter. For some reason, the phrase was never simplified to "Venereal terms." 
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Joined: May 2001
Posts: 28
newbie
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newbie
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 28 |
James Lipton, author of "An Exaltation of Larks" did indeed subtitle his book 'The Venereal Game.'
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
last summer, a "stranger" dropped by to ask if there was a collective for a group of butterflies. it was agreed that there didn't seem to be one extant, and several good suggestions were forthcoming -- but somewhat later I discussed this with Charlie Elster ("There's A Word For It!") and when I mentioned 'flutter' he proposed 'flutteration', which I thought was just right. too bad the stranger will never see it. (also last fall, there was a book published with the title "What Do You Call a Group of Butterflies? And Other Insects" by Emma Nathan. but I'm not going to order it just to see what she came up with... :)
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Been a while since anybody's posted here.
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