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#27597 04/28/01 09:57 AM
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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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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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A lick of chocolate p______. [gonna-get-this-into-the-lexicon-anyhow emoticon]


#27600 04/30/01 07:11 PM
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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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Yeah, I usually associate lick with ice cream.

jimthedog

#27602 05/01/01 02:20 PM
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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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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.


#27607 07/09/01 05:03 PM
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A loving of handcuffs.


Oh, sorry, I thought it was corrective nouns


#27608 07/10/01 03:51 AM
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Aw, Faldage, you just wanted to bring up Sparteye's "lick" post again!


#27609 07/10/01 08:12 PM
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But they melt where they are not supposed to


#27610 07/10/01 11:07 PM
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How about 'a jones of Mother Superiors'?

oh, sorry, I thought it was collective nuns


#27611 07/12/01 08:16 PM
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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.



#27612 07/12/01 08:29 PM
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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!


#27613 07/12/01 08:41 PM
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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!!!


#27614 07/12/01 09:02 PM
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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.]


#27615 07/12/01 09:34 PM
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"at first blush" was there only one?


#27616 07/12/01 10:49 PM
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As in "pudendum"?

if you can't beat 'em, join 'em


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