Speaking of neologisms--though see the book, "An Exaltation of Larks" for terms of venery as well--finding new collective nouns has to be one of the older parlour games. We tried it in the office some years ago, producing as I recall such entries as, "A quibble of lawyers", "A ponder of philosophers", and (my favourite) "A brood of Slavs" (coined by a Slav, I hasten to add).
ADRW
When I saw the topic I too thought of Lipton, a long time favorite. Memorable for the story of four Oxford dons considering a group of prostitutes: “A jam of tarts?” “No,” said the second, “an essay of Trollope’s.” “Rather, a flourish of strumpets,” suggested the third. “No, gentlemen,” concluded the last. “Here we have an anthology of pros.”
We tried it in the office some years ago Welcome, you-all.
We've done that here, too, I think, but it's been a long time. Worth posting the suggestion over in Wordplay and Fun in my opinion, if you'd care to.
anthology of pros took me a while; then...HA!
nope. a cacophony of musicians...
<smile>
Not even an Earfull of Musician?
I like earful, but now that I've had supper, how about a symphony of musicians?
Well, I haven't had my dinner yet. [/harumph]
How about a clatter of musicians, a spit of horns, a hush of pianists?
When I saw the topic I too thought of Lipton, a long time favorite. Memorable for the story of four Oxford dons considering a group of prostitutes: “A jam of tarts?” “No,” said the second, “an essay of Trollope’s.” “Rather, a flourish of strumpets,” suggested the third. “No, gentlemen,” concluded the last. “Here we have an anthology of pros.” Strange as it may seem that story has already appeared on these very pages. Someone (not I) had even come up with a topper: A passing Cockney remarked, "' 'Ell, no, Guv'nors, it was a feathering of 'ores!"
http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=68295
> spit of horns
very good.
a string of violinists?
a school of bassists.
-ron o.
A cube of triangles?
A hum of drummers?
A Violation of Violininsts.
A buffoonery of bassoons.
I heard a story (alleged to be true) a while ago about an event in England where Margaret Thatcher, John Majors and Tony Blair were in attendance. Someone noticed that there were three Prime Ministers and somehow the conversation turned to what do you call a collection of Prime Ministers. John Majors is said to have responded, "A Lack of Principles."
True or not, it still hit my funny bone.
It was a woman that drove me to drink and I never had the decency to thank her.
Funny story.
"I heard a story (alleged to be true) a while ago" *almost guarantees that whatever follows is an urban legend.
Would that then translate to a Puffery of Presidents?
An Exaltation of Larks was my first thought too on seeing this theme. I really regret selling my nice hardback copy when I was broke and selling everything in sight. We too used to play the game of making up our own - the only one that comes back to me now (and remember this was end of the '60s) was 'a trip of hippies', but it was a great parlour game (now there's an anachronism) for word-lovers and punsters.
Wanna know about the word game that we call 'John', and why?
A rasher of banjos
A train of conductors
A hork of sopranos
eta! You have left me speechless! But...
hork of sopranos [speech restored icon] I resemble that remark!
Welcome aBoard, mherson and everybody! I'm not sure whether I ought to want to know about the "game of John"--someone I'm pretty close to is named that, and is highly sensitive about a common use of it--but I'm curious, so please go ahead and tell us.
a bargain counter of tenors
thanks, Peter Schikele!
>> hork of sopranos [speech restored icon] I resemble that remark!<<
Then you've never been on stage with one.
Well, if you count a choir loft as a stage, I'm there with them every Sunday morning. What's a hork, anyway--isn't that what you cough up from your lungs and spit out? [gross e]
Hork
I know it as a verb. Opera singers are notorious for spitting on stage.
Yeah, I switched back to alto just so I wouldn't have to do that anymore...
Yeah, I switched back to alto just so I wouldn't have to do that anymore...LOL!
we need to organize the AWAD Chorus...
Wanna know about the word game we call John, and why?
Well, probabaly not, mherson, but (sigh!)let us decide
for ourselves, please. Tell us abouit it.
A herd of cats?
(multiple meanings, yes)
Hey, Jomama, at least try and sound interested! But anyway, here's John :
How to play John
Players : normally more than one, although I have had fun playing it alone into a typed document. Two works well, more than four would probably get tedious or too competitive.
Points, if you have to :
Points given for words that make others gasp or giggle or guffaw exceptionally.
Points taken away for repetition (except for a purpose), or for spoiling the fun.
The point : fun of it, not points.
Playing faster is better than playing slower, and too much thinking about it may suit some but …..
One player says a word, any word.
Players then take it in turn (or randomly – depends on how rule-bound you want to be) to say another word (or name, exclamation, etc) that has some / any relation to the previous word. This relation can be, for example but not exclusively :
A synonym or antonym
Something with a related meaning – eg flock ->herd
A pun – eg flock -> herd ->listened (as in heard)
Something with a similar sound, rhyme, alliteration, assonance, etc – eg flock ->herd ->gird or ->inferred or ->harried or ->hired or ->er or ->her, etc
Imaginative wandering is encouraged – eg flock ->herd ->pride (lions) ->fall (comes before a …) ->water, etc. When challenged, a player should be able to justify their imaginative leap.
Backtracking is discouraged – eg flock ->herd ->listened ->shoal ->ear – although twin tracks can be fun, especially with more than 2 players, and the challenge can be to get them to converge again.
Note : we called it John because it was a game without a name and thus was seeking one so we could refer to it.
We knew the (previous) Bishop of Hereford, whose name is John Oliver. This gave us multiple tracks to his name 'John’ :
anything religious at all,
any other word or name that related to it – eg hay ->wain ->John (Wayne),
anything to do with Hereford – eg cow ->John (skipping Hereford),
anything that suggests Oliver – eg twist >John (skipping Oliver Twist),
anything that related to or suggested the names of other members of his family that we knew.
Thus 'John' seemed to become a magnet or attractor within the game willy-nilly. Seemed natural to call the game John.
I've posted a description but higher up on a different sub-thread (still called Collective nouns) of this theme (posted today, 21/09/05).
Have to say I'm underwhelmed by the world-weary tone of all of you who pretend not to want to know about it while asking about it. Maybe you're all spending too much time 'chatting' on-line. Hey, you could even play John on-line! hhmmm....