I did a quick search of the SDMB and didn’t turn up anything - I am sure there are logophile links galore on the web that deal with this - Jomo Mojo and others, can you help me with my questions and potentially point me to the right sites…
When did the whole cutesy aspect of coming up with group names come about? Beyond “herd” or “pod” or whatever, when did people start thinking it was interesting to come up with new group words, like a crash of rhinos, etc…
How structured is the process by which these words become the “accepted” way to refer to that group of things - who decides that “yes, we’ll now refer to them as a ‘syphillis of prostitutes’ and give Joe Schmo the credit for coming up with that…”
A phrase like a “school of fish” seems to cross the line - maybe it started off more cute, but has obviously become commonplace - where does it factor into the history of coming up with group words? Are there other words that now seem to strongly connotate groups, but started off merely as part of this idiosyncratic approach to naming groups?
Is there a definitive text or website - a website might be better if the list gets updated a lot - to refer to?
My biased favorite is a clowder of cats. Kinda cute, really.
Gets a lot of use around our happy little multi-cat household.
BTW, I too have wondered about a website devoted to collective nouns (the official term for such words - you probably heard it in school but forgot it). Will be interested to see if anyone finds one.
Collective nouns! That’s the name - I hate it when I have a senior moment in my 30’s over something like that, especially when my friends call me the WordMan - thanks, Cygnus…
I could swear I remembered a Straight Dope column about this, but I can’t seem to find it in the archive. Oh, well.
At any rate, people back in the 16th century or so used to enjoy sitting around making up terms for groups of animals. This was called the “venereal game”. A quote from this page explains why:
Why, you’re so welcome! :: I always savor those rare moments when I can actually contribute something useful. I’m a WordGal myself (Words! Words! Wonderful words!), though I try to be low-key about it. And, though only in my own 30’s, I have regular senior moments. {sigh} So I understand completely.
A group of Cambridge dons were walking along the High street one afternoon, arguing over just this subject (collective nouns), when they were passed by three ladies of the evening headed in the opposite directon.
The youngest of the philologists remarked “Ah! A trey of tarts!”
“No,” contradicted one of his fellows, “what we have here is a fanfare of strumpets”
The eldest porfessor spoke up reproachfully. “Gentlemen, I’m surprised at you! Surely a pair of Cambridge dons should be able to recognize an anthology of English pros!”
My 5th grader had an assignment including analogies. One was “some kind of group” is to “its members” as rafter is to a. ceiling b. turkeys c. I forget d. something else.
She said ceiling, and got it wrong. I said the analogy was pretty wierd and the reverse of the initial pair cause a ceiling might be kinda made up of a bunch of rafters. But ceiling was the only option that had anything to do with rafters. She asked if maybe the teacher meant raptors, and I assured her that turkeys did not bear talons of death. See, neither she nor I are exactly slouches in the vocab department.
Only after I had gone through 3 dictionaries and finally hefted my unabridged, did I find rafter, a group of turkeys.
What a fucked up word for a 5th grade language arts assignment! I can guarantee she’ll never forget it, though. Me either.
I can’t answer the questions regarding how or why these words are used as collective nouns, but I do have a list of some of the more colorful ones, photocopied out of the original Book of Lists (I think, it may have been B of L II), page 135, and pinned on my bulletin board here in my office.
Some have been mentioned here. Some others:
A rag of colts
A smack of jellyfish
A trip of goats
A paddling of ducks
There was a great TV sketch a few years ago by UK comedians Mel Smith & Gryff Rhys Jones; 2 crusty old academics in a library, blowing the dust off ancient books as they research (fictional) collective nouns. My favourite (and consequently the only one I can remember) was “an encyclopaedia of zebras”. Sadly, Google draws a blank on this phrase.
The book you want to get is An Exaltation of Larks. It’s devoted entirely to these sorts of collective nouns. The second edition is a lot bigger than the first.
The book you want to get is An Exaltation of Larks. It’s devoted entirely to these sorts of collective nouns. The second edition is a lot bigger than the first.
Cal beat me to it. An Exaltation of Larks is the best collection of venereal terms I have seen. I have a copy of the first edition hanging around somewhere. (I didn’t even know there was a second edition.) The author in general eschews wordplay in favor of a more poetic feel. As a wordplay kind of guy, I probably would have gone more for the puns.
PM
There was a great TV sketch a few years ago by UK comedians Mel Smith & Gryff Rhys Jones; 2 crusty old academics in a library, blowing the dust off ancient books as they research (fictional) collective nouns. My favourite (and consequently the only one I can remember) was “an encyclopaedia of zebras”. Sadly, Google draws a blank on this phrase. **
[/QUOTE]
The punchline of this sketch (the details of which are quite different in my memory than in yours!) was that when the big dusty book was closed, the title on the front was “a Load of Bollocks”.
[nitpick]
Isn’t “rhinoceri” an improper plural? After all, the singular is “rhinoceros” and the word ultimately derives from Greek, (although it is also found in Latin) and therefore wouldn’t take the “us” to “i” plural. That, and it doesn’t end in “us” anyway. The dictionary, too, says the proper plurals are either “rhinoceros” or “rhinoceroses”
Just wondering…
[/nitpick]
: I always savor those rare moments when I can actually contribute something useful. I’m a WordGal myself (Words! Words! Wonderful words!), though I try to be low-key about it. And, though only in my own 30’s, I have regular senior moments. {sigh} So I understand completely.