Examples of Animal Collective Nouns

Will and Guy’s
Amusing Examples of Collective Nouns For Animals

Collective nouns are always interesting.  Who ever was responsible for
defining these group words clearly chose with care and humour.

• Quirky  Animal Collective Nouns
• Animal
  Collective Nouns – Big List
• Funny Clever and
  Clean Collective Nouns
• The Plain English Campaign
• Britain’s Most
  Irritating Expressions
• General Collective Nouns

Quirky Animal Collective Nouns

One of the oddities of the English language is the different names given
to collections or groups of animals.  Many of our
examples of animal collective nouns are evocative, and extremely
clever.

Animal Collective
Nouns – Traditional List

• Albatross Rookery
• Alligators Congregation
• Apes Shrewdness, Troop
• Antelope Herd
• Ants Colony, Army, Swarm, Nest
• Asses, Herd, Drove
• Baboons Troop, Flange
• Badgers Cete, Colony, Set, Company
• Bats Colony, Cloud
• Bears Sloth, Sleuth
• Birds Brood, Clutch Flight, Flock, Dissimulation
• Bison Herd
  
• Buffalo Herd, Troop, Gang, Obstinacy
• Bullfinches Bellowing
• Bullocks Drove
• Buzzards Wake
• Camels Caravan, Train, Flock
• Cats Clowder, Pounce
• Cheetahs Coalition
• Chickens Chattering
• Cobras Quiver
• Cockroaches Intrusion

  Will and Guy recommend

  Flocks, Herds, Litters & Schools by Jim McMullan

  

• Cormorants Gulp
• Crabs Cast
• Crocodiles, Float
• Crows Murder, Storytelling
• Deer Herd, Gang
• Dogs, Pack
• Dolphins Pod
• Donkeys Drove, Herd
• Ducks Flock, Raft
• Eagles Convocation, Aerie
• Falcons Cast
• Ferrets Business, Cast, Fesnying
• Flamingos Stand, Flamboyance
• Flies, Swarm, Cloud
• Frogs Army
  
• Fox Skulk, Earth, Lead, Troop
• Geese Flock, Skein, Gaggle
• Giraffes Tower
• Gnus Implausibility
• Goats Tribe, Flock
• Goldfinches Charm
• Gorillas Band, Troop
• Guillemots Bazaar
• Gulls Colony, Screech
• Hawks Cast, Kettle
• Hedgehogs, Array
• Hippopotamuses Bloat
• Hornets Nest
• Horses String, Herd
• Hummingbirds Charm
• Hyenas Cackle, Clan
• Kangaroos Troop, Mob, Herd
• Lapwings Deceit
• Larks Exaltation, Ascension
• Leopards Leap
• Lions Pride, Troop
• Lizards Lounge
• Locusts Plague
• Magpies Murder, Charm
• Mice Mischief
• Midges Bite
• Moles, Labour, Company
• Monkeys Troop, Barrel, Tribe
• Moose Herd
• Mosquitoes Scourge
• Mules Pack, Rake
• Nightingales Watch
• Otters Romp, Bevy, Raft
• Owls Parliament, Stare
• Parrots, Pandemonium
• Partridge Covey, Bew
• Peacocks Muster, Ostentation
• Pekingese Pomp
• Pelicans Pod
• Penguins Colony, Rookery, Huddle
• Pigeons Flight, Flock, Kit
• Pigs Drift, Drove, Sounder, Farrow
• Polecats Chine
• Porcupines Prickle
• Porpoises Herd, Pod, School, Crowd, Shoal
• Prairie Dogs Coterie
• Rabbits Warren, Trace
• Raccoons Gaze
• Rats Pack, Plague
• Rattlesnakes Rhumba
• Ravens Unkindness, Storytelling
• Reindeer Herd
• Rhinoceroses Crash, Stubbornness
• Rooks Building, Parliament
• Salmon Run
• Seals Pod, Rookery
• Sharks Shiver, School
• Sheep Drove, Flock, Down, Hurtle, Fold, Pack, Trip
• Squirrels Dray, Scurry
• Snails Escargatoire, Walk
• Snakes Den, Nest, Pit, Knot
• Snipe Walk, Wisp
• Sparrows Host
• Squirrels Dray, Scurry
• Starlings Murmuration, Chattering
• Stoats Pack, Trip
  
• Swans Bank, Flight
• Thrush Mutation
• Tigers Ambush
• Toads Knot
• Trout Hover
• Turkeys Rafter, Posse
• Turtles Bale, Nest, Turn
• Vultures Venue, Kettle
  
  
• Walruses Herd, Pod
• Wasps Nest, Swarm
• Waterfowl Knob
• Weasles Gang, Colony, Pack
• Whales Pod, School
• Wolves Pack
• Wombats Wisdom
• Woodcocks Fall
• Woodpeckers Descent
• Zebras Crossing, Zeal

Funny Clever and Clean Collective Nouns

We have gleaned these examples of collective nouns from The New Yorker
Magazine and date back to the 1990s. Nonetheless they are funny, clever and
amusing.

• A plethora of lispers
• A mingling of broken vases
• A tenet of palindromes
• A hotbed of quilts
• A veneer of newscasters
• A brace of orthodontists
• A rash of dermatologists
• A gaggle of censors [or comedians]
• An amalgam of dentists
• A cast of orthopaedists
• A slew of retired hit men
• A box of pugilists
• A concert of yes men
• A flash of paparazzi
• A bunch of florists
• A set of hairdressers

The Plain English Campaign

The Plain English Campaign is a group that has been fighting for crystal-clear communication since 1979. Consider some of these examples that made Guy and Will smile:

• Take off lid and
  push up bottom. [From a stick deodorant label]
• These guidelines are written in a matter-of-fact
  style that eschews jargon, the obscure and the insular. They are intended for use by the novice and the experienced alike. [From the United Kingdom Evaluation Society ‘Guidelines for good practice in
  evaluation’]
• Thought grenade [Management jargon as found in Office Angels survey – means ‘explosive, good ideas’]
• This is a genuine ground floor opportunity to shape a front line field force operating in a matrix structure. [As stated on the ‘Take a Fresh Look at Wales’ website]
• The delay to this service is
  due to low adhesive conditions. [Otherwise known as ‘slippery tracks’, from First Scotrail]
• The cause of the fire was due to a malicious ignition incident that was fortunately contained to the function and
  meeting room area of the hotel. [News statement about a fire at a hotel]
• Its clear lines and minimalist design provide it with an unmistakable look. It is daring, and different. So that your writing
  instrument not only carries your message, but lives it. [Promotional literature for … pens]
• Where the policy is divided into a number of distinct arrangements (‘Arrangements’) where benefits are capable
  of being taken from on Arrangement or group of Arrangements separately from other Arrangements, then this policy amendment will not apply to any Arrangements in respect of which the relevant policy proceeds
  have already been applied to provide benefits. The policy amendment will apply to all other Arrangements under the policy. [Policy amendment, Norwich Union]

Britain’s Most
Irritating Expressions

A top ten of the most annoying expressions has been compiled by
researchers at Oxford University in England. Top of the list was ‘at the end
of the day’, followed by ‘fairly unique’, reports the Daily Telegraph
newspaper.

‘I personally’ a phrase described by BBC Radio 4 presenter and
journalist, John Humphreys, as the ‘linguistic equivalent of having chips
with rice’ was third.

Also making the top ten is the grammatically incorrect ‘shouldn’t of’,
instead of ‘shouldn’t have’.

The phrases appear in a book called Damp Squid, named after the mistake
of confusing a squid with a squib. The researchers who compiled the list
monitor the use of phrases in a database called the Oxford University
Corpus, which comprises books, papers, magazines, broadcast, the internet
and other sources.

The book’s author Jeremy Butterfield says many annoyingly over-used
expressions actually began as office lingo, such as 24/7 and ‘synergy’. He
added, ‘We grow tired of anything that is repeated too often: an anecdote, a
joke, a mannerism, and the same seems to happen with some language.’

The
10 Most Irritating Phrases in Full:

1. At the end of the day
2. Fairly unique
3. I personally
4. At this moment in time
5. With all due respect
6. Absolutely
7. It’s a nightmare
8. Shouldn’t of
9. 24/7
10. It’s not rocket science

Will and Guy would love to know the expressions which bug and annoy you.
Please send them to us for inclusion on the site.

Less Is Not Fewer? – Tesco
Clear Up

Tesco supermarket has bowed to pressure from the Plain English Campaign
and scrapped checkout signs reading, ‘Ten items or less.’

Critics insist that the signs should read: ‘Ten items or fewer.’ Tesco has
side-stepped a complicated grammatical debate by changing the signs to: ‘Up
to 10 items.’

• A clutch of kleptomaniacs.
• A flunk of students.

Footnote:
Please send us you examples of funny
animal collective nouns.