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.

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.

A lick of chocolate p______. [gonna-get-this-into-the-lexicon-anyhow emoticon]

Dear Sparteye: Why do they have to be chocolate?

Would dill do?

Yeah, I usually associate lick with ice cream.

jimthedog

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] :-)

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."

James Lipton, author of "An Exaltation of Larks" did indeed subtitle his book 'The Venereal Game.'

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... :)

Been a while since anybody's posted here.

A loving of handcuffs.


Oh, sorry, I thought it was corrective nouns

Aw, Faldage, you just wanted to bring up Sparteye's "lick" post again!

But they melt where they are not supposed to

How about 'a jones of Mother Superiors'?

oh, sorry, I thought it was collective nuns

Aw, Faldage, you just wanted to bring up Sparteye's "lick" post again!

i don't understand her post. "p_____" stands for what?? wwh's subsequent post implies it's "pickles", so i'm not sure i understand the significance of not just spelling it out.

My pudish ex was very angry with me when i used dildoes in (or as dr. bill put it " will dill do"?) in a scrabble game.. as i recall, got a triple word score for it..(one of the d's, so it counted two ways!) and a lick of chocotate p_ n_s_s -- fill in the blanks with vowels... did you really not know that? Obviously you go to the wrong kind of candy stores!

My pudish ex was very angry with me when i used dildoes

Oh, man, I almost stopped reading right there and then. Good thing I kept going!!!

fill in the blanks with vowels

sheeeshh.. glad i asked

i'll happily admit that at first blush i read that as pansies.

i'm still not entirely sure i understand the intrinsic* value of the confection you're suggesting, but then again i don't care much for chocolate.

* Atomica helpfully provides the following:

in·trin·sic
(1)Of or relating to the essential nature of a thing; inherent.
(2)Anatomy. Situated within or belonging solely to the organ or body part on which it acts. Used of certain nerves and muscles.[E.A.]