Today's topic: Collectives
Terms of venery are the special words and phrases applicable to the hunting world, specifically the hunting culture of feudal through modern times in Great Britain. It was an indication of good breeding and knowledge to know the special term for a company of animals. Here are some common and less-common collective nouns for animals:
Band of coyotes
Brood of hens
Caravan of camels
Cast of hawks
Cete of badgers
Charm of goldfinches
Chine of polecats
Clowder of cats
Clutch of eggs
Colony of ants
Colony of penguins
Colony of beavers
Congregation of alligators
Covey of partridges
Crash of rhinoceroses
Descent of woodpeckers
Gaze of raccoons
Herd of buffalo
Herd of moose
Kindle of kittens
Leap of leopards
Lounge of lizards
Murmuration of starlings
Ostentation of peacocks
Pace of asses
Parliament of Owls
Party of jays
Pod of seals
Pod of walruses
Rafter of turkeys
Rhumba of rattlesnakes (this one's for TL)
Romp of otters
Scurry of squirrels
Shrewdness of apes
Siege of herons
Shiver of sharks
Sloth of bears
Tribe of goats
Trogle of snakes
Troop of kangaroos
Unkindness of ravens
Wisdom of wombats
Zeal of Zebras
...just to name of few! I intended to list those mainly applicable to Canadiana but I couldn't resist listing the ones that gave me kicks and giggles. Shiver of sharks? Who knew!
7 comments:
Hehe...Pace of asses....hehe
I'm sitting by you for TTN so you can feed me the answers LOL>
Hi
My favourite is 'a murder of crows'.
Good luck with TTN.
Kindest
Uncle Mike
Yes, pace of asses and murder of crows are strange indeed.
I would have liked to been on the committee who came up with this stuff! And just for the record, I'd also like to join the committee who names nail polish colors. That would be fun :)
Hi Wylie, what is test the nation...is this a game show you are on?
I love the idea of naming nail polish...or what about paint colours?
I love these lists of animal groups, I agree with your uncle, murder of crows is one of the best. Parliment of owls is so dignified. And although it doesn't roll off the tongue, I love shrewdness of apes too. I love the primates and they do look shrewd.
Um, if you have time...I'm looking for the name title for a painting, are you inspired?
http://gnosticminx.blogspot.com/2007/03/name-this-painting.html
Hiya Candy,
Test the Nation is a national IQ test.
Scroll down to my post before the last Thursday 13 and you'll see the details.
Paint colors... yeah, but I don't think wall paint is as fun as nail polish. Last time I went for a manicure, my nails came out "Chihuahau Bites', which was a pretty coral! LOL
Pace of asses, hmmm seems fitting to me.
Congregation of alligators, bet you wouldn't see that Sunday morning at a church.
I would use another word for a shiver of sharks, especially if I was in the water with them. YIKES!
ROFL! Those are great! Pace of asses cracked me up, too, and I'd heard "clowder of cats", though I'd never referred to my Ballicai before specifically as a "clowder." Guess I could call them a "Clowder of Ballicai" or would "Ballicai" have yet another term of venery? :-D
And "kindle of kittens" is just plain cute, though it's hard to imagine walruses coming out of a pod!
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