Collective nouns and congressional bananas

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the creation and humor of collective nouns for various groups of animals and professions, exploring both traditional and inventive examples. Participants share their thoughts on existing collective nouns and propose new ones, often with a humorous or ironic twist.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants highlight traditional collective nouns like "Herd of cows" and "Murder of crows," noting their anthropomorphic qualities.
  • One participant humorously suggests that a group of baboons should be called a "congress," emphasizing their aggressive nature.
  • Others propose various new collective nouns, such as "prickle of politicians," "rub of masseuses," and "ponder of PFers," showcasing creativity and humor.
  • Additional suggestions include "prison of politicians," "slew of lawyers," and "screw of prostitutes," reflecting a playful critique of these professions.
  • Some participants mention collective nouns for specific groups, like "matrix of mathematicians" and "superfluidity of nuns," adding to the diversity of examples.
  • A recurring theme is the humorous nature of collective nouns, with some participants suggesting absurd or whimsical combinations like "recursion of collective nouns."

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the humorous aspect of collective nouns, but there is no consensus on which new suggestions are the best or most fitting. The discussion remains open-ended with multiple competing views on the creativity of collective nouns.

Contextual Notes

Some suggestions may depend on cultural or contextual interpretations, and the humor may not translate universally. The discussion reflects a playful exploration rather than a formal linguistic analysis.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in linguistics, humor, or creative writing may find this discussion engaging, as it showcases inventive language use and collective noun creativity.

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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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.

:smile: 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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Or for incongruous, I like a "troubling of goldfish".
 
A business of ferrets.
 
New ones?

A prickle of politicians

A rub of masseuses

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

:smile:
 
  • #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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