Collective nouns and congressional bananas

  • Thread starter Ivan Seeking
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In summary: A chaos of anarchistsA paradox of philosophersA coven of witchesA swarm of beesA pack of wolvesA pride of lionsA gaggle of geeseIn summary, the English language has a variety of anthropomorphic collective nouns for different groups of animals, such as a herd of cows, a flock of chickens, and a school of fish. Less commonly known are a murder of crows, an exaltation of doves, and a parliament of owls. For baboons, the proper collective noun is a congress. Other creative collective nouns include a prickle of politicians, a rub of masseuses, and a ponder of PFers.
  • #1
Ivan Seeking
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The English language has some wonderfully anthropomorphic collective nouns for the various groups of animals.

We are all familiar with a Herd of cows, a Flock of chickens, a School of fish and a Gaggle of geese.

However, less widely known is a Pride of lions, a Murder of crows (as well as their cousins the rooks and ravens), an Exaltation of doves and, presumably because they look so wise, a Parliament of owls.

Now consider a group of Baboons. They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least intelligent of all primates.

And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons?

A congress.

[copied from an email]
 
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  • #2
Ivan Seeking said:
Now consider a group of Baboons. They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least intelligent of all primates.

And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons?

A congress.

:rofl: Brilliant ! Now pass it on to http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...vn3Ag&usg=AFQjCNHHr46SuA48COL9j946eRr0n8g1FQ" along with a link to this thread !

I am sure they have a sense of humor... then again... maybe not.

Rhody...
 
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  • #3
Or for incongruous, I like a "troubling of goldfish".
 
  • #4
A business of ferrets.
 
  • #5
New ones?

A prickle of politicians

A rub of masseuses

A ponder of PFers?
 
  • #6
A prison of politicians?
 
  • #7
A giggle of gays?
 
  • #8
A slew of lawyers?
 
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  • #9
A screw of prostitutes?
 
  • #10
A recursion of collective nouns?
 
  • #11
fuzzyfelt said:
A recursion of collective nouns?

:rofl:
 
  • #12
Thanks :)
 
  • #13
A degeneration of bad jokes?
 
  • #14
You are nice?

By which I mean...

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English: foolish, stupid < Old French: silly, simple < Latin nescius ignorant, incapable, equivalent to ne- negative prefix + sci- (stem of scīre to know; see science) + -us adj. suffix

"The first joke recorded by history was about wheat it was not funny."

Some Egyptian...
 
  • #15
A matrix of mathematicians

A neighborhood of mathematicians

An explosion of chemists

A fireball of electrical engineers

A coronary of system's integration engineers

A Valhalla of Norwegians
 
  • #16
Genuinely the group name for nuns is a superfluidity of nuns.
 
  • #17
A fusion of nuclear engineers

A fuzzyfelt of artists
 
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1. What is a collective noun?

A collective noun is a noun that refers to a group of people, animals, or things.

2. Can you give examples of collective nouns?

Some examples of collective nouns are "herd" (group of cattle), "flock" (group of birds), and "team" (group of players).

3. How are collective nouns formed?

Collective nouns can be formed in different ways, such as by using a specific word for a group (e.g. "pride" for lions) or by adding a suffix like -age (e.g. "foliage" for leaves).

4. What is the connection between collective nouns and congressional bananas?

There is no direct connection between collective nouns and congressional bananas. The term "congressional bananas" is often used as a humorous example of a collective noun, as it is not a real term but highlights the idea of a group of bananas belonging to the US Congress.

5. Can collective nouns change in different contexts?

Yes, collective nouns can change in different contexts. For example, a group of fish can be referred to as a "school" when swimming together, but as a "catch" when caught by a fisherman.

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