You know that a bunch of sheep crowded together is a flock, a group of antelope
loping together a herd, a cluster of fish swimming together a school and a crowd of bees
buzzing together a swarm. But have you ever heard of a crash of rhinoceroses, a clowder
of cats, a kindle of kittens, a gam of whales or a knot of frogs?
Most of these collective nouns evolved during the Middle Ages, when the
sophisticated art of hunting demanded an equally sophisticated vocabulary to name the
objects of the chase. Ever since God commanded Adam to name all the creatures that run
and fly and swim and crawl and burrow above, on and under the earth, we humans have
been relentless in gathering those beasts and birds into clusters.
Let’s begin with group nouns for 30 different animals:
a bale of turtles, a barren of mules, a bloat of hippos, a business of ferrets, a caravan of
camels
a cete of badgers, a coalition of cheetahs, a covert of coots, a cowardice of curs, a
dazzle of zebras
a dray of squirrels, a drove of kine, a labor of moles, a leap of leopards, a memory of
elephants
a mischief of mice, an obstinacy of buffalo, a pace of asses, a pod of seals, a pride of
lions
a route of wolves, a shrewdness of apes, a singular of boars, a skulk of foxes, a sleuth
of bears
a sounder of swine, a tower of giraffes, a trip of goats, a troop of monkeys, a warren of
rabbits
Now here’s a flight of 30 avian assemblages, a groupie list that's truly for the birds:
a cast of hawks, a charm of finches, a congregation of plovers, a convocation of
eagles, a covey of quail
a descent of woodpeckers, an exaltation of larks, a flush of mallards, a gaggle of geese,
a huddle of penguins
a murder of crows, a murmuration of starlings, a muster of storks, a nye of pheasants,
an ostentation of peacocks
a paddling of ducks, a pandemonium of parrots, a parliament of owls, a piteousness of
doves, a plump of wildfowl
a rafter of turkeys, a scold of jays, a siege of herons, a stand of flamingoes, a tidings of
magpies
a ubiquity of sparrows, an unkindness of ravens, a wake of buzzards, a watch of
nightingales, a wedge of swans (when flying in a V formation)
For fun, you can make up your own collective nouns for people, animals, and/or fantastic creatures — a rash of dermatologists, a brace of orthodontists, an Enterprise of trekkies, a hoard of misers, a *** of censors, a gaggle of sword swallowers (get the pun?), a prickle of porcupines, a constellation of starfish, a plume of dragons, a utopia of unicorns.
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DEAR RICHARD: This was a question on “Jeopardy” that I saw as a child many, many years ago: An eight-letter word with only one vowel! I loved that clue and that word and never forgot that the answer is: What is strength? – Deborah Lessard, Spring Valley
Actually there’s a longer such word: strengths, as in “strengths and weaknesses.”
DEAR RICHARD: What nine-letter word in the English language is still a word
when eight letters are removed one by one? – Herb Kelsey, El Cajon
Here are two nine-letter words that can be deleted anywhere while keeping the order of the
letters intact:
SPARKLING SPARKING SPARING SPRING SPRIG PRIG PIG PI I
STARTLING STARTING STARING STRING STING SING SIN IN I
But from the 12-letter reactivation we can extract any letter, one at a time, and then form
successively smaller anagrams, until but a single letter remains:
REACTIVATION RATIOCINATE RECITATION INTRICATE INTERACT
TAINTER ATTIRE IRATE RATE ART AT A