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
- Cockroaches – Intrusion (so appropriate)
- Flamingoes – Flamboyance (I mean, they’re really just storks in drag, right?)
- Giraffes – Tower (well, duh)
- Gnats – Cloud
- 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
- Rhinos – Crash
- Sharks – Shiver (“Dude, paddle for shore–now!”)
- Storks – Muster (because they couldn’t muster up the costumes to be flamingoes)
- Tigers – Ambush
- 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 (“Please turn in your hymnals to page 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 the crows! Stop the crows!’”)
- Gnus – Implausibility (indeed)
- Rattlesnakes – Rhumba (actually, 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)
SKUNKS – Respect (They’re inter-racial [Black & White] and you don’t mess with them).
Love it! Don’t know how I missed that one. Thanks, SkunkGuy!
Lovely and fun post! 🙂
These are hilarious! Especially the murder of crows and blessing of unicorns. 😛
The Crash of the Rhinos – sounds like a bestseller!
Very entertaining, especially your parenthetical comments bringing up comical images. My faves: the mouse-fur wigs of parliamentary owls and a congregation of alligators singing, “Shall We Gather at the River.” Thanks for the smiles, Mitch!
Haha, brilliant. I always thought, A Convocation of Eagles, would make a great book title – and possible sequel to Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit. Seriously, why did they not catch a lift?
Convocation of Eagles is a great title, Jac! Time to write that sequel. J.R.R. Forsyth?
Thanks for th good laugh!
Very cute and very clever. Loved it! 🙂
How do you think of these things? You may have a gathering all your own … a curiosity of Teemlys?
Very, very fun!
Very fun! Thanks for the entertainment! 🙂
What fun it will be to slip these into conversations! Thanks for lightening up my day!
“Why just the other day when I was visiting with a mob of emus…” Something like that? ;>)
You missed a Congress of Baboons!
From: Mitch Teemley To: xxcatxx35711@yahoo.com Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2016 10:10 AM Subject: [New post] Animal Group Names #yiv7747942923 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv7747942923 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv7747942923 a.yiv7747942923primaryactionlink:link, #yiv7747942923 a.yiv7747942923primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv7747942923 a.yiv7747942923primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv7747942923 a.yiv7747942923primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv7747942923 WordPress.com | mitchteemley posted: “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 (sounds about right) Cockroaches – I” | |
I was going to include that, Cathy, but found out it’s not a recognized term. Some blogger or Facebooker came up with it as a joke a few years ago.
“Glaring” for cats is spot-on. Ask any cat owner. (A Mitchellaneous of Teemleys. Works for me.) :>)