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!
Hah! You too, Anne!
Thanks for the language lesson! All but about three of these were new to me.
I enjoyed.
Ahhh… thanks Mitch. I needed that. 😄
An interesting read. 🙂
and I quote…
“awww. just awww
no other words for it!
I loved this! Thanks for sharing.
A rhumba of rattlesnakes? Most show up as solitary. This inspires me to share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG1NrQYXjLU
Are you saying most rattlesnakes aren’t “ready to rhumba”? Loved the video flashback, btw–nothing quite like that Billy Idol sneer.
What a fun post, I love the graphics.
Fantastic. I coukd hear the seal in my head. Fun stuff!
I definitely have to save this. A resource tool for Cheeseland. Thanks 🙂
My pleasure!
this was a fun post. keep on bloggin