Collectives
I admit I have a soft spot for The Twelve Days of Christmas. Even so, I do always get confused as to how many drummers drumming and lords-a-leaping there are. The turtle doves I like, and I found a wonderful collective noun for those birds: a pitying of turtle doves. Obviously, in seasonal mood, I had to look up the collective noun for turkeys; disappointingly, it's not a glut, but a boring old flock, although there are other collective nouns for turkeys including dole, raffle, rafter and posse.
At this point, I started to get carried away. English has a herd of swans, but also a bank, bevy, drift, eyrar, lamentation, sownder, squadron and my favourite, a whiteness. Other wonderful terms include an exaltation of larks, a charm of finches, a convocation of eagles, a parliament of rooks, a murmuration of starlings and a squabble of seagulls.
It's not just birds that have wonderful collective terms. Did you know, for instance, that a collection of spiders is known as a clutter, or that leopards congregate in a leap? Giraffes form a tower, while a group of unicorns is considered a blessing.
Some could be better, though. A clan of hyenas is the correct term, but I prefer the idea of a laughter of hyenas. More that there could (should?) be include a sum of adders, a flush of plumbers, a row of oarsmen, and a Flander of Molls. How about a brood of landlords, or a view of spectators, a kindness of strangers, or an ambition of children, a dash of runners or – wait for it – a brace of dentists?
When I put these ideas to readers of a magazine I was working on, they came up trumps. A Mr Williams of Leicestershire came up with a display of collectors, a couple of twins, and a batch of bakers. Mrs Thompson of Liverpool suggested a swoop of swallows, a gloom of undertakers, a swag of robbers and a lie of politicians. Audrey Jenkins proposed a trick of card players, a fright of clowns and a route of maps. Can you come up with some more?
