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#27597 04/28/01 09:57 AM
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stranger
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S
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.


#27598 04/28/01 10:21 AM
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Carpal Tunnel
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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.


#27599 04/30/01 12:18 PM
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Pooh-Bah
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A lick of chocolate p______. [gonna-get-this-into-the-lexicon-anyhow emoticon]


#27600 04/30/01 07:11 PM
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wwh Offline
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Dear Sparteye: Why do they have to be chocolate?

Would dill do?


#27601 04/30/01 07:46 PM
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enthusiast
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Yeah, I usually associate lick with ice cream.

jimthedog

#27602 05/01/01 02:20 PM
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newbie
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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] :-)


#27603 05/01/01 04:19 PM
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Pooh-Bah
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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."


#27604 05/01/01 06:33 PM
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James Lipton, author of "An Exaltation of Larks" did indeed subtitle his book 'The Venereal Game.'




#27605 05/02/01 06:52 PM
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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... :)


#27606 07/09/01 04:23 PM
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Been a while since anybody's posted here.


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