Friends: a colleague of mine wants to find a word to describe a collection of stories. I've thought of "web" and "tapestry"; any other suggestions out there?

My sweet paulb:


Date: Tue Feb 8 00:04:32 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--omnibus
X-Bonus: Any mother could perform the jobs of several air-traffic controllers with ease. -Lisa Alther

omnibus (OM-ni-bus) noun

1. A long motor vehicle for passengers; a bus.

2. A printed anthology of the works of one author or of writings
on related subjects.
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Date: Thu Feb 10 00:04:27 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--florilegium
X-Bonus: As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

florilegium (flor-uh-LEE-jee-uhm, FLOR-) noun, plural florilegia

A collection of literary pieces; anthology.
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You could also have a compendium

collection, compendium -- (a publication containing a variety of works)
http://www.notredame.ac.jp/cgi-bin/wn?compendium

Perhaps something like: Tales of the South Pacific
The Decameron
A Thousand and One Nights
A Cornucopia

jackie's definitions touched on the more common 'anthology'; also, treasury, compilation, analects(?), and, (my favorite!) chrestomathy.

Were they the definitive stories, their collective might be referred to as a "canon."

I like "home made" versions like the wonderful "A Child's Garden of Verses" by RLS.

Thanks to you all and, especially, Jo. In my late-night post, I should have said that she was looking for 'colourful' or distinctly different words and 'garden' is just such an example.

It'll be a few days before I catch up with her again (she's a fast one!), so keep the ideas coming please.

If you are looking for a "colourful" beneric term, it must depend to some extent on what sort of stories they are, I suppose. But these suggestions might spark off a train of something!

A spiel of stories
A tailof .. - if you wish to be whimsical - if you wish at the same time to be abscure, the a concatenation of ..
a whisper of ..
a kneepad of .. (as in "at my mother's ..)
thence a hassock of ..


How about a shake of tales ?

A seasoning of stories
Gurgles and gasps
Luminescence of Literary License
wow

A wonderment; a dazzle; Gemstones; a batik; a porphyry;
a collage; a sparkle; In the Glade; a brew; if she wants something really different, she could call it a
burgoo. Oh! I just remembered--why don't you try, or have her try, Marty's link to a collection of collective nouns?
Here, to save you the trouble:
http://www.ojohaven.com/collectives/

If the stories are all the same kind, that could make a difference. For ex., if they are about snakes, it could be called a Hissing.

Jackie is spot on with her comment : If the stories are all the same kind, that could make a difference. For ex., if they are about snakes, it could be called a Hissing.
Stories in various times of year -- A Season of Stories
and, an easy one, stories featuring food: A Seasoning ...
About women : a Bevy
etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!
The King and I signing off....well she was an Ann(a), too.
wow

If anthology is for poetry, scale it up and say an orchard of stories (or a forest, arboretum, stand, plantation, but I think orchard preserves the imagery best).

Reminds me of the two English professors who wandered into the wrong part of town and noticed a fairly large group of streetwalkers. The two professors spent the rest of the evening arguing about whether the group was a volume of trollops or an anthology of pros. There was a third one in this joke that I cannot remember!

Then there were the two history professors who met at a nudist colony.

One said to the other, "Have you read Marx?"

The other answered, "Yes, I assume it's the wicker chairs."

Hi Ted,

Loved the nudist pun. Here's a footnote from the collective nouns link that I posted not so far away in my "??? of Wizards" post:

(5) According to Jeansp@aol.com:

The suggestion about an anthology of prostitutes is part of a joke I heard years ago:
A group of specialists in collective nouns was in bar an observed such a group of professionals and came up with the following:
A jam of tarts
A flourish of strumpets
An anthology of English pros

Dear TEd: The prof with the cross-hatched buns must have been a "cotton tail" and had a mirror.

Before this thread disappears into the AWADtalk archives, may I thank all posters for their input. I'll pass all your suggestions on to my friend.

Cheers
paulb

Reminds me of the two English professors

No doubt one of them was the one who asked his class to write an essay on Keats, whereupon one inattentive student declared that he couldn't - he didn't know what they were.

Paul, maybe I'm late with this suggestion, but how about a bouquet of stories?

A labyrinth of stories (where you can lose your self)

A plot of stories (a plot that grows other plots)

A festival of stories or A celebration of stories
(Where stories come together for - whatever)

A tete-a-tete of stories
(where a-tete-a-tete sounds like a machine gun)

------
Edited later to add :

The best collective phrases I have come across is : Dam-Burst of Dreams

It is title of a book by an Irish writer Christopher Nolan (who I think is brilliant). This particular book is a collection of poems and writing by him, which I have not been able to access. I am sure he writes beautiful poetry. The title is poetry.

Paulb
Do let us know the decision re final title ... whether one of our suggestions is used or not ? Perhaps under title "A Name Is Chosen?"
wow

No doubt one of them was the one who asked his class to write an essay on Keats, whereupon one inattentive student declared that he couldn't - he didn't know what they were.

Rather like the literary man who asked an acquaintance it he liked Kipling.
"I don't know," replied the acquaintance, "I've never kippled."
"Ah, No!" rejoined the literary man, "It's Rudyard Kipling."
His companion answered "I don't doubt it!"

paulb - just one from me (at least for now) - I was riding a train once a long long long time ago (and it was a long train going a long distance), and I sat in the club car for most of the trip with my little laptop and interviewed people on a particular topic... and as one question led to another, etc. etc., later, I put it all together under the title Train of Thoughts... could be useful?

Shoshannah