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#19888 02/22/01 02:37 AM
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A friend asked me today "With all your word knowledge and connections, can you solve a problem I've been chewing over for quite a while? What is the collective noun for wizards? I know it's a coven of witches, but what do you get of wizards??"

Well, my knowledge (on this) is zilch, and you, folks, are those "connections" he speaks of. So, please, for the sake of my reputation, not to mention your own, roll up your sleeves, put on those thinking caps and come up with an answer.

And in partial non-response (perhaps I mean nonsense response) to the question, here's a good site that I Googled in my attempt to answer him:
http://www.ojohaven.com/collectives/ Just don't get side-tracked from your mission by the cleverness there.


#19889 02/22/01 02:54 AM
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What is the collective noun for wizards?

In honour of the most financially successful of all wizards, how about a kiln?


#19890 02/22/01 02:56 AM
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a conventicle of wizards (serious)
a conjuring of wizards (jocoserious)
a spelling... nah


#19891 02/22/01 10:08 AM
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I like 'conventicle'.
I imagine them standing round in a circle so I might say:
'a round of wizards'
'a ring of wizards'
or
back to the Celtic theme and Druids who were often sages, shamans (or shamen :-) and mystics maybe:
'an order of wizards'
... o.k., o.k. .... maybe not
Come to think of it, were/are wizards not for the most part Einzelgaenger?


#19892 02/22/01 03:49 PM
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No answer to be found in the Harry Potter books ?


#19893 02/22/01 05:26 PM
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I think it was in the late 1700's, it was a sort of parlour game to make up words for different groups of animals. Only a small number of the ones proposed at that time are still current. Perhaps some one of our learned participants can remember the source which eludes me.


#19894 02/22/01 05:48 PM
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You are right, wwh, the British upper crust amused themselves with creating witty collective nouns, mostly for animals subject to the hunt. They are thus called terms of venery. Some of my favorites include, a parliament of owls, a murder of crows, and a crash of rhinos. There is a wonderful book, An Exhaltation of Larks, which compiles many collective nouns. I'll check the author's name when I get home.

Leaving out most of the story -> I once wrote a letter to a radio station discussing collective nouns, and suggesting one for chocolate penises. If you ever hear the term, a lick of chocolate penises, you'll know from whence it came.


#19895 02/22/01 08:00 PM
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by James Lipton (host of the "Actor's Studio" interviews)

an indifference of waiters
a lot of used-car dealers
an unction of undertakers (for a large group, an extreme unction)
a void of urologists
a pile of proctlogists
an odium of politicians
a pan of reviewers
a conjunction of grammarians
a score of bachelors
etc.




#19896 02/22/01 08:12 PM
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A book of linguaphiles.
A rifle of sharpshooters.
A riding of horsemen.
A trail of hikers.
A house of realtors.
A beaker of chemists.
A script of playwrights.
A font of webmasters.
A lens of photographers.

Somebody stop me, please! If any of the above were the same as in the book, the resemblance is purely coincidental.


#19897 02/22/01 08:16 PM
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Thanks for the suggestions (so far, feel free to keep going). I passed a few of them on to the original inquirer, and was a little bemused to learn that he wanted to use the word to describe his company's latest software product.

Apparently it has a lot of wizards in it!




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