It’s usually at a pub quiz that we find ourselves
delving deep into our minds for the various strange terms used for a group of
something. Many we may recall quickly, such as a murder of crows or an
unkindness of ravens, but I imagine most people would be unaware of the many
unusual, descriptive and humorous words associated with these gatherings of
animals. Even less would have any idea of their origins.
It was in the 15th century that gentlemen
were in the pursuit of leisurely pleasures, namely hunting and fishing. The
book to turn to at the time was the Book of St. Albans printed in 1486, with
its sections on hawking, hunting and heraldry. It is believed that the book was
written by a nun, Dame Juliana Berners, who was also referred to as the First
Lady of fly fishing. The book was popular and the colourful collective nouns
she assigned to animals are still in use today, such as a pride of lions and a
gaggle of geese. Others such as a shrewdness of apes has not enjoyed the same
popularity. In all, 164 collective nouns were listed in the book under “The
Compaynys of Beestys and Fowlys” which also included people: A gaggle of women,
an abominable sight of monks.
With popularity being the key to a collective noun’s
survival, there have been many attempts to create them for our modern world. In
1991 James Lipton wrote “An exaltation of larks,” a compendium of these
nouns that had long been established in our language, even for inanimate
objects. (A flight of stairs, A quiver of arrows)
Last year, I posed a question on Twitter asking what
the collective noun for authors was. The response was amazing with many
brilliant suggestions, and where I was introduced to the hashtag
#moderncollectivenouns. Well worth a look, but in the meantime here are my
favourite picks for authors:
A publication of authors
A block of authors
A ream of authors
An epigram of authors.
And my own contribution: A solitude of authors. Please feel free to list your own suggestions.
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