And back again...

Factual Questions
1

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

2

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.”

3

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.

4

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.

5

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

Uke

6

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.

7

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

8

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

9

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.

10

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.

11

A “flash” of paparazzi(sp?).

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

12

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

13

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~

14

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

15

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.

16

So the erstwhile Browns could be called the “Baltimore Unkindness.”

17

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

18

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)

19
  • ¢ - 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: ^

20

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