One of my favourite linguists is Kate Burridge, she has a segment on ' Can We Help' Friday nights on the ABC. Last week she was talking about collective nouns. Appropriate terms that simultaneously refer to a gathering of entities and at the same time play at the characteristics of the group. Eg. 'a gaggle of geese'. Many early examples grew up in the context of hunting, as in 'a herd of deer' and 'a pride of lions'. People started having fun and coming up with their own fun, collective nouns, 'a bevvie of beauties' etc. I've taken up the challenge to come up with some of my own, and here they are:
A thrush of gynecologists
A rise of gigolos
A wave of surfers
and of course ....
... A serge of sewers
I'm putting the challenge out there for you to come up with your own .... leave a comment, let me know!
Update: Here's some more I had to share:
A flash of strippers
A flutter of gamblers
A swagger of drunks
A stack of bricklayers
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Wise words ...
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4 comments:
An inflation of politions?
I will have to keep thinking. Loved yours
That should say politicians
So,so funny :)
You know when you are waiting for the lights to change so you can cross the road to catch a bus, and as you wait you see five buses go by - well, that's a "bastartude of buses". (from our days living in Newtown) :)
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