Most official names for things are dull. But group names for animals are a hoot. Here are some of my favorites (Source: The Oxford Dictionary):
Appropriate (What else could they be called?)
- Cats – Pounce or Glaring (often both at the same time)
- Cockroaches – Intrusion (so appropriate)
- Flamingoes – Flamboyance (perfect–I mean, they’re really just storks in drag)
- Giraffes – Tower (well, duh)
- Gnats – Cloud (what else?)
- Goldfish – Troubling (fortunately, guppies are excellent therapists)
Hippos – Bloat (“I’m lactose intolerant.”)- Jellyfish – Smack (well, yeah)
- Lizards – Lounge (“Another fly martini, please.”) ⇒
- Owls – Parliament (love those little mouse-fur wigs)
- Porcupines – Prickle (at the very least)
- Rhinos – Crash (Humvees of the animal world)
- Sharks – Shiver (“Dude, paddle for shore–now!”)
- Storks – Muster (because they couldn’t muster up the costumes to be flamingoes?)
- Tigers – Ambush (not quite as scary as a shiver of sharks. Still…)
- Weasels – Sneak (frequently employed by tigers)
Awww, Just Awww!
Butterflies – Flutter- Chickens – Peep
- Ducks – Paddling
- Monkeys – Cartload (even more fun than a barrel)
- Otters – Romp (this one’s for my wife)
- Squirrels – Scurry
- Unicorns – Blessing
Seriously?
- Alligators – Congregation (“Good morning, please turn in your hymnals to #243, Shall We Gather at the River”)
- Apes – Shrewdness (um, kind of…?)
- Crows – Murder (the hitmen of the animal world)
- Emus – Mob (“An angry mob of emus gathered outside the Australian Parliament yesterday, shouting, ‘Stop those murdering crows!’”)
- Gnus – Implausibility (indeed)
- Rattlesnakes – Rhumba (what we do when we see a group of rattlesnakes)
- Ravens – Conspiracy (they’ll plot against you, then send a murder of crows to finish the job)
- Seals – Harem (“Welcome to my tent, leetle one, take off your veil. Arf! Arf! Excuse me, I got a leetle beet excited.”)
- Toads – Knot (ew, just ew)
- Wombats – Wisdom (like apes, only more trustworthy)
Cool! I’ve always loved this topic! Have you heard of an exaltation of larks? Mom & I were just talking about these measure words this morning. Apparently they’re part of her cranium cruncher weekly quiz! Blessings!
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Hah! You too, Anne!
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Thanks for the language lesson! All but about three of these were new to me.
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I enjoyed.
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Ahhh… thanks Mitch. I needed that. 😄
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An interesting read. 🙂
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and I quote…
“awww. just awww
no other words for it!
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I loved this! Thanks for sharing.
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A rhumba of rattlesnakes? Most show up as solitary. This inspires me to share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG1NrQYXjLU
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Are you saying most rattlesnakes aren’t “ready to rhumba”? Loved the video flashback, btw–nothing quite like that Billy Idol sneer.
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What a fun post, I love the graphics.
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Fantastic. I coukd hear the seal in my head. Fun stuff!
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I definitely have to save this. A resource tool for Cheeseland. Thanks 🙂
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My pleasure!
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this was a fun post. keep on bloggin
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