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old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
Hope this ain't a reinyartnation, though I fear it may be....
My uncle sent my mother a list of what he calls "some traditional English names for a group of animals or birds" (though birds ARE animals, yes? perhaps he was thinking "mammals"....). Some seem rather odd to me (foxes and boars in particular, though I find most of them rather peculiar) and I wonder if anyone here is familiar with them? are they *really "traditional"? The only ones I thought I remembered hearing/seeing before were the larks and the crows.
A deceit of lapwings
A sort of mallards
A business of ferrets
An exultation of larks
A murder of crows
A murmuration of starlings
A leash of foxes
A bale of turtles
A cast of hawks
A chattering of choughs
A singular of boars
A congregation of plovers
A convocation of eagles
A dule of doves
A pace of asses
A richness of martens
A sedge of cranes
A stuck of jellyfish
A tidings of magpies
Please feel free to add to this list, too. The only extra ones I can think of are
A pride of lions
A crash (or is it clash?!) of rhinos
A parliament of owls
A pod of whales
A school of fish (but Lord knows what gatherings of different species of fish might be - this could be fun!)
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Hope this ain't a reinyartnation[sic]
A) They ain' no such thang
2) Yes, it is but
Þ) Who cares?
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
Who cares?
Nobody, but a number of us care about that extra "n".
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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that extra "n".
Mebbe we could compromise. Call it reinyarnation cause we're spinning the same old thread again.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
I've got a book around here, somewhere, called An Exultation of Larks by James Lipton. As I recall, he documents all the above usages, but most of them apparently were used for the nonce in one literary work or the other. Maybe someone can offer more detail.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
...we're spinning the same old thread again.
There's a word for this. . .
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
Þ) Who cares?
I love these. think they're cool.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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2) Yes, it is (a reinyartation) but
Þ) Who cares (that it's a reinyartation)?
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
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<various colours>Þ) Who cares (that it's a reinyartation)?</various colours>
ah. my bad. sorry.
a plethora of sorries.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
grouping name suggestion:
A belabouring of belinguaphiles.
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