# A murder of crows, and other animal group names **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826 "2006-03-25T03:40:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/1 "2006-03-25T03:40:22Z")
A murder of crows, a sleuth of bears, a dule of doves, a college of cardinals… uh, no, forget that last one. How many of these cutsey, semi-clever animal group names (and there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of them) have been around for more than, say, 20 years? And how many have just been written recently by lovers of the English language with too much time on their hands? ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/2 "2006-03-25T03:50:51Z")
> [@Elendil's Heir](#): > > A murder of crows, a sleuth of bears, a dule of doves, a college of cardinals… uh, no, forget that last one. > > How many of these cutsey, semi-clever animal group names (and there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of them) have been around for more than, say, 20 years? And how many have just been written recently by lovers of the English language with too much time on their hands? My understanding is that coming up with collective nouns was very popular in the Victorian age. Some of my favorites: - an exhultation of larks - an absence of waiters - a ballet of swans - a body of pathologists One I came up with myself while I was writing a horror story: a shamble of zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/3 "2006-03-25T03:56:43Z")
Personally, my favorites are a Parliament of Owls and a Grace of Unicorns. The latter I actually first encountered in actual use (i.e., not just in a list of animal collective nouns like this one): The 3rd Edition D&D Monster’s Manual entry for unicorns says that they might be encountered solitary, in pairs, or in a grace (5-7). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/4 "2006-03-25T04:32:08Z")
> [@Elendil's Heir](#): > > A murder of crows, a sleuth of bears, a dule of doves, a college of cardinals… uh, no, forget that last one. > > How many of these cutsey, semi-clever animal group names (and there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of them) have been around for more than, say, 20 years? And how many have just been written recently by lovers of the English language with too much time on their hands? Most of them have been around for far more than 20 years (and there are more than a thousand). Hundreds date back more than 500 years, being terms used in venery (hunting). [James Lipton](http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,0_0140170960,00.html?referrer=doi) compiled many of these from fifteenth century sources (Books of Venery) in his classic work, _An Exaltation of Larks._ Many others were coined in Victorian times, when it became something of a parlor game to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/5 "2006-03-25T04:42:14Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > My understanding is that coming up with collective nouns was very popular in the Victorian age. It’s a great car game, along with Geography, I’m going to X, etc. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/6 "2006-03-25T05:04:52Z")
Writer James Thurber suggested “A Flare of Strumpets.” ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/7 "2006-03-25T05:47:33Z")
Animal groups were named, often whimsically, in the medieval English “venereal game” played among the hunting classes, which resulted in “terms of venery” or “venereal terms” – collective nouns for animal groups. See generally James Lipton, _An Exaltation of Larks_ (1991). For some lists of venereal collective nouns, see[ul][_]Melissa Kaplan, [“Beastly Garden of Wordy Delights”](http://www.anapsid.org/beastly.html);[_]Christchurch City Libraries, [“Animal Group Names (Collective Nouns)”](http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Childrens/FactSheets/AnimalGroupNames.asp);[_][EnchantedLearning.com](http://EnchantedLearning.com), [“Names of Males, Females, Babies, and Groups of Animals”](http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/animals/Animalbabies.shtml);[_]Fun With Words, [“Collective Nouns”](http://rinkworks.com/words/collective.shtml);Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, [“Animal Congregations, or What Do You Call a Group of . . . ?”](http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/help/faq/animals/names.htm)[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![octothorpe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b77776/32.png) [@octothorpe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octothorpe)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/8 "2006-03-25T06:08:05Z")
I’m actually partial to _a singularity of boars_ and _a sounder of swine_. And who’d a thunk you’d need three terms for geese; _a skein of geese_ (in flight), _a gaggle of geese_ (on land) and _a plump of geese_ (on water)? (although i think there is a bit of artistic licence to be found in wikipedia on that last one…) # ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/9 "2006-03-25T07:01:01Z")
Recent coinage: A Wunch of Bankers 🆒🆒🆒 Think about it a little. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/10 "2006-03-25T07:32:50Z")
> [@](#): > > And who’d a thunk you’d need three terms for geese; a skein of geese (in flight), a gaggle of geese (on land) and a plump of geese (on water)? Actually, there’s four. Geese are a skein if they’re flying freely and a wedge if they’re flying in v-formation. ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/11 "2006-03-25T10:31:57Z")
A Teeming of Dopers Cecil is that correct? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/12 "2006-03-25T11:09:32Z")
> [@](#): > > How many of these cutsey, semi-clever animal group names (and there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of them) have been around for more than, say, 20 years? They used to be found in the back of dictionaries - I remember looking them up as a child (sadly over 20 years ago!) but I think they have fallen out of favour to some extent - my 1990 Chambers Dictionary seems to have dumped them in favour of ISO paper sizes ! Some are old - a flock or birds, a herd of cows; some have fallen by the wayside as we have become more distanced fomr nature; and some have been coined as recent witticisms. Which is which ? Thinhk how common the noun being ‘collected’ is in current language and there you go. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/13 "2006-03-25T15:26:15Z")
> [@brianmelendez](#): > > venereal collective nouns Since nobody else has: A \_\_\_\_\_\_ of herpes? ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/14 "2006-03-25T15:32:04Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > One I came up with myself while I was writing a horror story: a shamble of zombies. I think ‘A corps of skeletons’ (walking variety) is in one of the Xanth books. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/15 "2006-03-25T16:37:30Z")
They have been around for centuries. However, they were unused for centuries, too. Lipton (who started the fad) went through ancient documents and listed all he could find, even if the term only appeared in that one document and was never used again. And even if widely used in it’s time, nearly all the terms were out of use by the time Lipton started his research. It’s not wrong, exactly, but it’s highly misleading. It as if I wrote “An arflebarfle of apples” and someone listed that as a collective name. Or if they said, “to occupy” is an obscenity. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/16 "2006-03-25T16:46:14Z")
About the only “fanciful” term that is still in general use is “a pride of lions.” I believe that this actually post-dates some of the other terms such exaltation of larks. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/17 "2006-03-25T16:58:15Z")
[Johnny Carson] A shaft of proctologists. [/Johnny Carson] ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/18 "2006-03-25T16:59:46Z")
A fletcher (arrow-maker) with a cubic meter of pre-cut feathers might well carry his stere of flights up a flight of stairs. **Some recent ones:** A formality of penguins. A dairy of titmice. An inning of bats. An aroma of smelt. A Timken of bears. A bundle of faggots (from a New York magazine contest.) A levee of dykes. A caucus of elephants/donkeys. A volley of artillery bugs. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/19 "2006-03-25T17:21:19Z")
Well, there were a good number of such in the olden days. But most of them- especially the really cutesy ones, were made up for the “Game of Venery”, and were never in general use. So, most of the cutesy animal ones were “just been written a hundred years ago by lovers of the English language with too much time on their hands.” But if Lipton hadn’t wrote that silly book, only a few would still be around, with maybe a dozen more lurking in Unabridged Dictionaries. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826/20 "2006-03-25T18:00:01Z")
A caress of breasts. A clutch of penises. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-murder-of-crows-and-other-animal-group-names/349826.md?page=2)