BS: Make up new words for animal groups!

Subject: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 11:56 PM

Okay. We have a gaggle of geese, a murder of crows, a pack of wolves...

How about this then:

A torpid of turtles.

That's my new word for a group of turtles.

Here are some more:

A habit of nuns.

(Not that nuns are animals, but we can do some new words for groups of people too. Why not?)

A hornet of rhinos.

A leaping of lizards.

A stringwiener of dachshunds.

Go to it...see what you can come up with.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Peace
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 11:58 PM

I'm startin' to worry about you.


A stampede of mice.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 12:08 AM

Just "starting" to? Ha! ;-)

A chuckle of chimps.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: open mike
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 12:21 AM

the "real" names for bunches of critters are comical, too.
i included a bunch and some links to more in a thread recently.
i heard someone today say "a convocation of robins"

whales and porpoises travel in pods,
i tend to use "herd" for many groups...
such as the lady bugs I have in my yard.

how about a lamp of lightning bugs
what is is that comes in "gangs"?
a waddle of penguins?

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: number 6
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 12:25 AM

A horde of people.

A bunch of monkeys ... that one is for Chongo.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Bee
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 12:25 AM

A squabble of squirrels

A cacophany of grackles

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: number 6
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 12:27 AM

grackles ?!?!?! :{

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: number 6
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 12:33 AM

an epistle of carrier pigeons

a stud of mules.

ok ... i'm outta here.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Bee
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 12:33 AM

Those long tailed blackbirds, fairly large, gather in flocks in the trees and screech like banshees, number 6. Bigger than starlings, smaller and slimmer than crows. Often have iridescence on heads and wings, if you see them close in the right light.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Bee
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 12:34 AM

And get to bed right now, BiLL!

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: number 6
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 12:36 AM

I confess Bee, I immediately googled after reading your post .... I offer no excuse for my ignorance. :)

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 12:53 AM

A rash of fleas.
A party of piranha.
A slime of slugs.
A pantsfull of ferrets.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 02:36 AM

A racket of magpies (that's racket as in 'stop that racket or I'll come up there', not the sort you play tennis with)

A chest of tits

A wriggle of maggots

A joint of koalas (well, they're stoned most of the time!)

A blur of hummingbirds

A darting of daphnia

A disagreement of cats

An orgy of rabbits

A rattle of snakes

A lethargy of sloths

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 03:07 AM

A 'Bob' of fish (on account of all they say to each other is bob)
A string of guitarists.
A ballad of singers.
A lurch of elephants.
A stretch of giraffes.
A stand of meercats.
A stinking of pigs.
A peck of birds.
A giggle of hyenas.
A s... load of stupid names! LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 03:42 AM

In the days when I was part of a team in a quiz league, it used to annoy me when the "Name for a group of..." questions came up. It was pretty obvious that 90% or more of these collective nouns had been invented specifically to be asked as quiz questions. They even asked for group names for solitary, strongly territorial animals and birds such as cheetas and robins, which will attack any incomer unless it is during a mating ritual. You don't get groups of them, so how can there be a collective noun?

The biggest joke is tha people believe these made up names. In the early 1908s a satirical programme, "Not the 9 O'Clock News" had a sketch where a widlife expert talked about living with a "flange" of gorillas. The term flange was a silly word made up for the sketch. Many years later it has been found in actual scientific papers.

I suggest - A bollox of collective nouns...
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: GUEST,CrazyEddie
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 04:15 AM

There is already a "real2 name for rhinos, a "crash".

ReGtD above: "A leap of Leopards". The most you ever see together are a mother &2 cubs.

I do like A "wunch" of Bankers though...

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: topical tom
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 01:32 PM

A plunking of pigeons? You know, the sound they make when...oh, never mind.
   A drilling of woodpeckers
   A caterwauling of cats (spell check, please)
   A hug of bears? Okay, I'm gone.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: John Hardly
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 01:34 PM

I thought about offering a few, but with "pantsfull of ferrets" the pinnacle of humor has already been reached.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 02:27 PM

A bunch of buffalo
A bunch of chickens
A bunch of folksingers
A bunch of money
A bunch of stuff
A bunch of catfish
A bunch of cougars

If it is a great big bunch, the word "whole" is added, as in

A whole bunch of shit
A whole bunch of banjo pluckers
A whole bunch of mooses
A whole bunch of trouble

See? Simple.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 02:31 PM

A 'munch' of female Mantises.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 03:32 PM

A much of female(       )....put what you like in the brackets.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Peace
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 03:40 PM

A crock of shit?

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Peace
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 03:44 PM

That's the singular collective. What is it for the plural collective?

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 03:54 PM

A Pride of Democrats.
A Gaggle of Republicans
A Flock of Presidents...

If any animals are reading this, please excuse the references...

bob

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 03:58 PM

I believe one of the original collective nouns was an "exaultation of larks" along with the "leep of leopards."

Ben Johnson was credited with referring to a group of whores as a "jam of tarts."

You can have a "pride of lions" but not a "pride of politicians."

How about a "foreclosure of mortgage lenders"?

How about a "stave of shanty singers"?

How about a "plethora of plutocrats"?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: John Hardly
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 04:02 PM

handsful of fingers

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Mr Red
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 04:07 PM

how about a srewin' of lightbulb jokes?

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 04:28 PM

I propose "a blush of flamingoes".

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 04:43 PM

A blather of commentators.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 04:47 PM

A slither of snakes.
A hump of sheep
A plucking of pheasants
A feast of gamebirds

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Peace
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 05:05 PM

"A hump of sheep"

Are you Scottish by any chance?

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Sorcha
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 05:09 PM

A cuddle of Corgis. Several Cuddles is a Chaos

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 05:34 PM

A gargle of amoeba.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 05:43 PM

I decided long ago that learning all the various names for different animal groups is a waste of time. I use one generic term to refer to all of them. That term is "shitload". It doesn't matter whether it's fish, fowl, mammal, reptile, amphibian, insect or whatever, if there's more than three or four of 'em, it's a shitload.

Just doin' my small part to help streamline our increasingly cumbersome language.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 05:45 PM

a canker of skeptics

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: open mike
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 06:37 PM

a gobble of turkeys

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: open mike
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 07:18 PM

does anyone have a search engine that works?
i have not had any luck with the mudcat search
for a while now..i have to refresh up to a year or more
and use the search that is on my top tool bar..
presumably it is the firefox search feature..
any way i want to find the original post i made
earlier this year that listed a whole bunch of
links to sites with group animal names....help!
i guess it was a post to a thread of a different topic..
perhaps someone out there remembers this?
or knows what thread i posted this to?
or can refresh that thread??
thanks for any assistance in this..

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 12:52 PM

Well, we have a tribe of ducks :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 01:05 PM

Yeah, Bee-Dubya, and if there's a HUGE number it's "a WHOLE shitload".

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: topical tom
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 09:28 AM

A wart of frogs
   A chatter of chipmunks
   A burrow of moles
   A whoop of cranes

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 10:19 AM

It's gonna be a massacre of voles as soon as I can get back out in the backyard.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 10:46 AM

A sink of plumbers
A bench of judges
A pleading of lawyers
A Rushmore of presidents
A brace of cripples [sorry, not quite PC, but surely the pun counts]
A broom of witches
A whine of liberals
A frown of conservatives
A warren of justices [did it again]
A thump of drummers
A drawl of Texans
An embrasure of flautists
A lash of masochists
A qwerty of typists [move over Obama, I'm on fire!]
A gaggle of geese? Deserves a goose of proctologists.
A thread of Mudcatters

Gotta go now! Time for my meds. :0

CC

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: GUEST,Hilo
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 12:17 PM

Lawyers... a serge of suits.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: bobad
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 12:30 PM

A nip 'n' tuck of tailors.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 12:50 PM

An Entry of gynaecologists.
A Howling of Wolves.
A Scratching of mice.
An infection of rats.
A gibber of monkeys.
A Formiction of ants
A venom of snakes.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 07:52 PM

A shine of monkeys!
A warrant of policemen.
A greenroom of gamblers.
A resin of violinists.
A gawdawful squacking racket of accordions (sorry)
A cover of lounge singers
A hat of magicians
A twirl of cheerleaders
An evasion of political spokespersons
A weigh of anchormen
A podium of professors
A bug of programmers
A void of astronauts
An eternity of tortoises
A talon of eagles
A six-pack of roadies
A recall of automakers
.....
And so on, and so on ....

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 08:16 PM

Wonderful, just wonderful.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Nick
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 09:08 PM

An exaggeration of estate agents

An irritation of bodhran players

A repetition of blues players

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 06:04 AM

A Contention of Mudcatters.

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 10:07 AM

An Imagination of Mudcatters!

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 10:10 AM

An Inner Circle of Mudcatters ? :) [joke]


G

Subject: RE: BS: Make up new words for animal groups!
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 10:35 AM

Giok-- I second the contention one! Alas, poor Yorik, he posted an opinion on Mudcat. :)

CC