# Collective Nouns Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collective-nouns-question/158488 "2003-03-02T00:31:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collective-nouns-question/158488/1 "2003-03-02T00:31:13Z")
Why “A murder of crows”? Most of the rest seem to make some sense : “A pride of lions”, “Gaggle of Geese”, etc. But that crow one has me confused, unless it has something to do with Poe’s **The Raven**. Please enlighten this ignoramus! 😃 Thanks Quasi ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collective-nouns-question/158488/2 "2003-03-02T00:40:13Z")
WAG, but it could have something to do with the place birds, especially nice black ones like crows and ravens have in folklore (before Poe). I know ravens are harbingers of evil - crows probably have a similar position. Anyone know the collective term for ravens? ---
**Author:** ![Cillasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Cillasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cillasi)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collective-nouns-question/158488/3 "2003-03-02T00:46:10Z")
A group of ravens is a “congress” at this site: [http://www.braggingpost.com/Games/group\_names/](http://www.braggingpost.com/Games/group_names/) and an “unkindness” at this one: [http://www.cities97.com/Archive/MuchTooEarly/2002/May.html](http://www.cities97.com/Archive/MuchTooEarly/2002/May.html) ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collective-nouns-question/158488/4 "2003-03-02T00:53:22Z")
I found “conspiracy” (also listed is “unkindness”) here:[http://www.nzbirds.com/Collective.html](http://www.nzbirds.com/Collective.html) and also here: [http://www.collectivenoun.com/](http://www.collectivenoun.com/) “Congress” appears to refer to baboons (if you don’t believe me look at Washington DC). So the answer appears to be: “conspiracy” (certainly what I was told when I was younger) or less commonly: “unkindness” ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collective-nouns-question/158488/5 "2003-03-02T02:39:34Z")
Bear in mind that many (even most) of these collective nouns were created by medieval bestiary authors to fit the particular human trait which that animal was supposed to represent. I would guess that those for crows and ravens were linked to these bird’s role as scavengers around battle sites, execution grounds, and other places with dead bodies. ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collective-nouns-question/158488/6 "2003-03-02T03:01:23Z")
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 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)