In Edward Albee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s play, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d George, the host at a late-night party, tells the guests about how faculty wives \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gather at the downtown A&P like a bunch of geese.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The guest \u00e2\u20ac\u0153corrects\u00e2\u20ac\u009d George by saying the proper term is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a gangle of geese, not a bunch.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Well, the host, played by Richard Burton, points out that if the guest is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153going to be cute and ornithological about it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the correct term is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gaggle, not gangle.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Which makes us ask, what do geese do when they congregate to qualify as a gaggle? In flight, geese generally constitute a flock or a skein, but on the ground, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a gaggle.<\/p>\n
Nouns of assemblage, usually descriptive of fowls, give virtually no clue as to why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all right to refer to a herd of cows but not of lions. Lions hang out in a pride, and fish are in schools.<\/p>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a suspense movie, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Murder of Crows,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d starring Cuba Gooding Jr., the title of which refers, of course, to crows but doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t explain what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s murderous about them. Could enough vultures, as opposed to crows, constitute a murder? Not likely, as vultures\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 meals of choice have already been murdered and are now road kill.<\/p>\n
Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s examine some of the groups:<\/p>\n
Ants, bats and beavers appear in colonies; herds pertain to antelope, buffalo, cattle, deer, donkeys, elephants, gnus and turtles. Well, maybe not really turtles, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a euphonious combination: herds of turtles. A bunch of turtles is a bale.<\/p>\n
A gnu, that funny-named animal also known as a wildebeest, is called an implausibility when it gets together with its friends. Why an implausibility? What could a gnu possibly do to earn such a title? When the gnu headmaster needs to discipline one of its gnu pupils, does the principal do the honors, or does it advise the mommy to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153paddle your own gnu\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? And maybe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gnus to you.<\/p>\n
And which animals appear in packs? Dogs, grouse, hounds, wolves and rats. Which animal doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit? The grouse, a fowl, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really congregate the way wolves do. A swarm might be more apt, the way bees and flies are categorized.<\/p>\n
Coyotes, which share many cultural and behavioral features with wolves, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t run in packs but in bands. So do gorillas. The primates handle the drum section, while the wolves provide the brass.<\/p>\n
Some classificologists must have worked overtime concocting names for these collective nouns.<\/p>\n
Try to explain why and how the following got their designations:<\/p>\n
A shrewdness of apes, an intrusion of cockroaches, a quiver of cobras, a cowardice of curs, a troubling of goldfish, a troop of baboons, a float of crocodiles, a tower of giraffes, a mob of emus, a gang of elk, a leash of greyhounds, a charm of goldfinch, an unkindness of ravens, a mischief of mice, a parliament of owls, an ostentation of peacocks and a rhumba of rattlesnakes.<\/p>\n
The most fitting term refers to peacocks, which by nature like to strut and preen, showing off their multi-colored plumage. The least fitting noun of assemblage applies to the classy Latin dance rattlers perform.<\/p>\n
We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve covered a host of classifications (aware that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153host\u00e2\u20ac\u009d refers to a bunch of sparrows) for the animal kingdom. And we find the makings of musical entertainment. That should be pleasing to birds collectively, as they, well, congregate and are therefore called a congregation. And congregations, at least those we join on Sundays, are known for their music. Some categories make perfect sense.<\/p>\n
A bunch of larks would constitute an exaltation, a reason to celebrate. But I have problems with the generic term for ferrets and vultures. The ferret, a variety of polecat that comes from the Latin \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fur thief,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d makes it his business to go after rabbits. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably why a bunch of these creatures is called a business.<\/p>\n
It gets worse for vultures, who in large numbers are a committee. Now committees of vultures, which feast on carrion smashed on the road or desert are probably no less productive than many human committees.<\/p>\n
I can imagine a committee of vultures gathered around a freshly killed coyote on the road. One of them might say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Madame chairwoman, I nominate Fred over there to look into acquiring spatulas for all of us to make it easier for us to eat.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
And finally, we might even apply some terms for large groups of humans, such as a shamble of economists, a grumble of conservatives, a tumble of gymnasts and a fleecing of politicians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Edward Albee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s play, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d George, the host at a late-night party, tells the guests about how faculty wives \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gather at the downtown A&P like a bunch of geese.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The guest \u00e2\u20ac\u0153corrects\u00e2\u20ac\u009d George by saying the proper term is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a gangle of geese, not a bunch.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Well, the host, played by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=374"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":389,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374\/revisions\/389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}