As a young child I can remember the thrill of my father telling me that every group of animals had a special name that they were called. Most children’s first knowledge of such names is when they are told to ‘look at a flock of birds,’ or ‘watch the shoal of fish swimming in the water.’ The more of these fascinating expressions that I learnt the more I craved to know.
Solitary Canada goose
The list is so numerous – a pod of dolphins; a nest of snakes; a dray of squirrels; a pack of dogs; a knot of toads; a mischief of mice; a prickle of porcupines; a bed of oysters; a loveliness of ladybirds; a bloat of hippopotami; a coalition of cheetahs; and should you ever see dragons well they have a special name too - a weyr of dragons! Of course the list is much longer than this … which one is your favourite collective name?
5 comments:
I love these! I wish you would post more of them...I only knew about half of the ones you mentioned! :-)
The ones I come across the most are the Geese. So a gaggle of geese I won't forget.
I think my favorite is the one you feature, a gaggle of geese. Gaggle is such a fun word. A murder of crows is also a very interesting one.
It is interesting to know that every group of animals has a special name that they are called. Either I was not taught in the class when I was young or I wasn't paying attention. Most probably I was the latter. Usually I would have refer to 'a lot of geese' or 'many geese.' :)
Some of these I had never heard of. Quite interesting. Learn something new every day :)
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