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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Yoohoo! Milum, where you at? Last night I saw a huge group of bats, hundreds of them, swooping and circling, spliting and recombining like a cyclone of bats. What do you call a group of bats, especially a flying, swooping, circling cyclone of bats?[/Wordwind imitation]
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Here's a suggestion (a bit wordwindy, but): AN INVERTED WITCH'S HAT OF BATS As far as the "cloud of bats" goes, that's pretty good. But it should be a "dark cloud of bats."
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>AN INVERTED WITCH'S HAT OF BATS
Wouldn't a bucket do just as well - "a bucket of bats" - has kindova nice ring about it ...
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Let's be obvious - a battery of bats. When I was in Philippines, our unit was quartered in a tower on top of the huge University of Santo Tomas building. Many minor eaarthquakes had made cracks in the cement of the building, and though these were quite narrow, they were shelter to thousands of bats, which would emerge at twilight. I have never heard of anything like it in the US. I was glad to see them, because there were billions of mosquitoes as result of the Japanese sabotage of the sewerage system. They bred in puddles everywhere. The corpsmen in hospital beneath us when on duty at night amused themselves by trying with brooms to knock down bats flying in the corridors, which should have been forbidden since they were catching mosquitoes that might have transmitted malaria to patients.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Ah, wwh, that is the best of all! If you just coined it, terrific! And your story of the Philippines is one worth remembering.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
Personal to consuelo. If you are not consuelo do not read the paragraph below and skip to the part that begins..." Well yes, I'm glad you asked..."-> Blast it Consue!, did some Angel with a warped sense of humor appoint you to embarrass me in front of my peer and my ten thousand friends? Now I'll have to bluff my way through this answer...Geewiz. <- Well yes, I'm glad you asked consuelo, many people have asked me that same question. I remember one time back in the seventies I was caving with Merlin Tutle, the world's foremost bat authority, in Sauta Cave in Alabama when someone asked me that same question...mmm?...Wait! I got a great idea! I will email Merlin and we will get an up-to-date answer straight from the great batman's mouth, so-to-speak. Yeah, and for his amusement I'll send him the names that have been suggested here. Let's see... bucket of bats - jmh battery of bats- wwh swarm of bats-RhubardCommando inverted witch hat of bats, dark cloud of bats - Wordwind cyclone of bats - consueloOff to email, will post his response. - mw
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Don't forget:
a flash of bats a wain of bats a slug of bats a flutter of bats a wander of bats an insanity of bats
TEd
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
I was gonna suggest "a belfry of bats" but that doesn't cover a flying, swooping, circling cyclone of bats....
If you can't see the bright side, polish the dull side.
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