If one loves words, sooner or later one comes across the rarer nouns of congregation, e.g. a murder of crows, an ascension of larks, a shrewdness of apes, a greed of bankers.
Does anyone know from whence these come? Who came up with them? When did they come into use? Has anyone ever said "a murder of crows" just by-the-by, without thinking "I am so clever, I'll use the fancy term instead of just saying 'flock' like a normal person"?
2 comments:
It's fun to watch people's reactions when you say, "I saw a murder yesterday in my yard..."
Two of my new favorites:
A conspiracy of ravens.
An exaltation of larks.
I think there's a book out there that has a bunch of cool collective terms.
Post a Comment