I've always been fascinated by the terms
for groups of animals or birds.
Some
of these must have been kindled by the sun-drenched ennui of idle poets on a
Summer’s day. I can just see a
velvet-jacketed Shelley or Burns, elbow-propped in a pollened meadow, scribbling
down lofty and more improbable nouns as the day wore on, chortling at their own
wit. Well, maybe not Shelley---he was
never much of a chortler, I’d think, and most likely reached his apogee rhyming
“wert” with “heart.”
Or
maybe the Hellfire Club, sitting around drunk on a havoc-less off-night, when
the Dogs of War had slipped clean out the pet door to howl, leaving them bored
and peevish as petulant children, shouting out odd, disjointed words.
I
declare, some of these are downright unfathomable, and others, the absolute
personification of the raucous, the avaricious, the greedy, the charming, and
the stunningly beautiful:
A
Shrewdness of Apes
A
Sleuth of Bears
An
Obstinacy of Buffalo
A
Bellowing of Bullfinches
A
Wake of Buzzards
A
Pounce of Cats
A
Bask of Crocodiles
A
Murder of Crows
An
Aerie of Eagles
A
Memory of Elephants
A
Cast of Falcons
A
Charm of Finches
A
Flamboyance of Flamingoes
A
Skulk of Foxes
A
Skein of Geese in flight sounds ever-so-much more graceful than a Gaggle on the
ground, don’t you think?
A
Tower of Giraffes
An
Implausibility of Gnus
A
Glint of Goldfish
A
Leash of Greyhounds
A
Muddle of Guinea Pigs
A
Kettle of Hawks
An
Array of Hedgehogs
A
Bloat of Hippopotamuses
A
Charm of Hummingbirds
A
Cackle of Hyenas
A
Scold of Jays
A
Cling of Koalas
An
Exaltation of Larks
A
Leap of Leopards
A
Loveliness of Ladybugs
A
Lounge of Lizards
A
Tidings of Magpies
A
Bamboo of Pandas
A
Pandemonium of Parrots
An
Ostentation or Pride of Peacocks
A
Pomp of Pekinese
A
Gulp of Pelicans
A
Creche of Penguins
A
Bouquet of Pheasants
A
Puddle of Platypus
A
Prickle of Porcupines
A
Gaze of Raccoons
An
Unkindness of Ravens, or a Storytelling, but I hear their vocabularies are quite limited.
A
Stubbornness of Rhinoceroses
A
Parliament of Rooks
A
Harem of Seals
An
Exultation of Skylarks
A
Murmuration of Starlings
An
Ambush of Tigers
A
Pitying of Turtledoves
A Blessing of
Unicorns
And
my absolute favorite, charming and true in its imagery:
A
KALEIDOSCOPE of Butterflies:.
I wouldn't have guessed most of them. I did see a butterfly kaleidoscope of Monarch butterflies one time on their southerly flight to Mexico. They were at all different heights; from ground level to very high in the sky all flying in front of an oncoming cold front.
ReplyDeleteI am, unsurprisingly, in awe of YOUR wonderful way with words!
ReplyDeleteIm in total agreement with chesapeake above me!!!
ReplyDeleteSo interesting. I love to ponder those group names... Academic Bowl students have to memorize some of them...
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite might be “A Shrewdness of Apes”.
ReplyDeleteAnd what could be more apt than “A Pounce of Cats”?