And back again...

[Flypsyde]

Okay, now that the fair TubaDiva has taken pity on me and closed my other annoying thread, let's reopen it.

Have any of you ever seen this T-shirt (and I would assume it's a poster as well)? It lists more than a few terms for groups of animals. Here's some that I remember:

-murder of crows
-charm of finches
-parliament of owls
-leap of leopards

I know this is a really General Question, but if any of you know some of the more obscure terms for these groups (i.e., I already know a group of lions is a pride), could you list them here? It's a bit of a
personal project, and I can't find that shirt anywhere.

Ahhh, much better. Thanks to everyone who answered before, and a big Bronx cheer for Satan.

------------------
And the problem with small furry animals
in corners is that, just occasionally,
one of them's a mongoose.
Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad

[tomndebb]

And I will repeat:

Hie thee to a bookstore or library and get a copy of James Lipton's An Exaltation of Larks that describes the rationale of and history of "terms of venery."

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

I could be misreading things, but I think I friend is looking for a t-shirt to wear, not looking for a source of collective critter names.

[UncleBeer]

And just in case anyone wants to see the posts from the previous version of this thread --
http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/003327.html

------------------
Dopeler effect:
The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

[Ukulele Ike]

Unc, can you set it up so it keeps sending those annoying e-mails to Flypside?

------------------
Uke

[UncleBeer]

Uke, I'd give it a shot, but I keep my e-mail address available here. I'd hate to see what kind of a blizzard I'd get in my inbox.

Oh yeah, army of frogs.

------------------
Dopeler effect:
The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

[Flypsyde]

Well, thank you very little, Uke.

Hey, wait-

If I could Cecil to sponsor it, I could collect $.05 (WTF! There's no cents sign on my damn keyboard! Well, that's going in GQ) for each email I get from that...

------------------
And the problem with small furry animals
in corners is that, just occasionally,
one of them's a mongoose.
Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad

[Ukulele Ike]

What's the first thing you have to teach an army of frogs?

How to say "I surrender!" in German!

Hyuk hyuk hyuk...oh, lordy, sometimes I kill myself!

------------------
Uke

[J String]

Can we make up our own? Here's one I like to use: "a lit of drunks" OK, maybe it wasn't that funny...

------------------
It's a long way to heaven, but only three short steps to hell.

[UncleBeer]

Damn you, Uke.
Okay, wise guy try this one:
a sneak of weasels.

------------------
Dopeler effect:
The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

[J String]

A "flash" of paparazzi(sp?).

------------------
It's a long way to heaven, but only three short steps to hell.

[Cabbage]

A couple off the top of my head: A pod of whales, a sleuth of bears. Can't think of any others right now.

[tomndebb]

A batch of (computer) operators.
(obsolete) A pounding of keypunch clerks.
A snarl of Communications technicians.
A listing of programmers.
An inquiry of analysts.
A muddle of managers.
A wailing of users.


------------------
Tom~

[heretic]

A fesnyng of ferrets (probably a [very] bad rendition of "business")
A pride of lions
A gaggle of geese (on the ground)
A skein of geese (in flight)
An unkindness of ravens (love that one)
A watch of nightingales
A wisp of snipe
A blessing of unicorns

[UncleBeer]

Well, if we're allowed to contrive our own, howz about, "a thread of trolls?"

------------------
Dopeler effect:
The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

So the erstwhile Browns could be called the "Baltimore Unkindness."

[NanoByte]

Hey, I thought we were limited here to birds. I could probably supply a whole jail of them, but I've been confined to short posts these days. Probably discrimination against my monicker here. So, in line with Hallowe'en, I'll just submit a 'shock of scarecrows'.

And Flypsyde:

FYI, the cent sign is ' ¢ '.

Ray

[NanoByte]

Of course, I should've said:

FWIW, the cent sign is ' ¢ '. But I guess there's enough of that sort of thing going on here that this wasn't really called for, even it does make cents.

Ray (picobyting these days)

[tomndebb]

- ¢ - can be had by doing the ALT + 0162 dance.

I haven't seen it on a keyboard since I worked on an ancient Burroughs machine, although my typewriter used to have one where these electronic jobbers place the carat: ^

[Dirty Devil]

My favorite is "a business of ferrets." I can just see them all in their little three-piece suits planning a corporate take-over.

[NanoByte]

A playlist of Flypsydes.

Ray

[Northern Piper]

a wrangle of lawyers

[tomndebb]

I thought it was a billing of lawyers.

g, d & r

A Flight of Dragons.

------------------
YO-HO, ME HEARTIES! ALL HANDS ON DECK FOR THE MUSICAL BATTLE AT SEA!

[Kat]

A fair of fire-lizards

A troop of (monkeys? baboons?)

------------------
Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99.

[Boris B]

A catcalling of fraternity members
A giggling of sorority members
A defenestration of Czechs
A bleeding of liberals
A frowning of conservatives
A group of moderates
A sighing of existentialists
A murder of nihilists (I know "murder" has been used, but it seemed appropriate here)
An aroma of hippies
A labor of Marxists
A gaggle of Fascists
A thumping of fundamentalists
An objectivist

------------------
Nothing I write about any person or group should be applied to a larger group.
- Boris Badenov

[Boris B]

I'm trying to think of what you would call a group of sollipsists but I can't.

[Rick Kitchen]

Shouldn't it be a bounce of Czechs?

A cluster/clowder of kittens
A sleuth of bears
A sorde/fflushe of mallards
A paddling/team of ducks
A shrewdness of apes
A pod of seals
A party of jays
A pitying of turtledoves
A crash of rhinoceroses
A trip of goats
A bouquet of pheasants
An ostentation of peacocks
A knot of toads
A pace of asses
A cete of Badgers
A colony of bats
A gang/obstinacyf buffalo
A drove/herd of cattle
bevy of roe deer
A cowardiceof curs);
A cry/mute/pack/ of houndsennel
A gang of elk
A leash/skulk/earth of foxes
A tower of giraffes
A tribe/trip of goats
A bloat of hippos
A harras of horses
A rag of colts
A string of ponies
A cackle of hyenas
A troop of kangaroos

[AHunter3]

I'm trying to think of what you would call a group of sollipsists
but I can't.


How about "a reflection of solipsists"?



------------------
Designated Optional Signature at Bottom of Post

[moriah]

A lisp of tweety birds
A snippet of toenail clippings
A flame of Usenetters
A froth of rabid dogs
A mouthful of maggots
A system of fratboy moons
A nap of teamsters
A blurry of babies in a blender
A pecadillo of presidents
A snore of senators
An index of reference librarians

[Cabbage]

A group of mathematicians.
A phylum of biologists.
A mole of chemists.
A quantum of physicists.

[Max Torque]

My favorite invented one was:

A nun of your business.

[Drain Bead]

a bale of turtles
a bed of snakes
a bevy of quail
a bouquet of pheasants (in flight)
a cete of badgers
a charm of finches
a clowder of cats
a confusion of guinea fowls
a covert of coots (whatever they are)
a covey of partridges, pheasants, or quail (on the ground)
an exaltation of larks
a gam of whales
a gang of elk
a host of sparrows
a husk of hares
a knot of toads
a labor of moles (wouldn't this make an interesting title for a novel?)
a murmuration of starlings
a muster of peacocks
a pace of asses
a parliament of owls
a plague of locusts (no kidding--that's the official title of a group of locusts)
a pod of seals or whales
a shrewdness of apes
a skein of geese (in flight)
a skulk of foxes
a sloth of bears
a troop of monkeys
a watch of nightingales

(source: Random House Word Menu--the coolest word reference ever--like a backwards dictionary, where you look things up by subject)

I hope that most of these aren't repeats. I'm too lazy to check.

[heretic]

Coots are black waterbirds. They look like moorhens, but moorhens have green feet while coots' are red.

ben