I have always liked the book, "An Exhaltation of Larks," and I am amazed by how many of those terms there are. Looking in Google, I found that they are termed "collectives", and they are subdivided into 6 different areas. "Partitive collectives" or "holonymic collectives", for example, are all new to me!

Do any of you have some favorite "collective" terms? In the newspaper today: "...a 'clutch' of elite American soldiers glimpsed a man with his hands up." That's new to me. BTW, would you say "glimpsed a man"? I would say "glimpsed at a man.

quote:

---

Kalleh,
Do any of you have some favorite "collective" terms?

---

I glimpsed at your post and thought,
"That might be a dangerous question to ask in the midst of this conjugation of wordcrafters."

"glimpsed a man"

but

"glanced at a man"


On the subject of collective nouns I might have mentioned before that I have a friend who to this day is known as "Crash", a nickname he acquired more than thirty years ago at school when we were doing collective nouns at school and he came up with

"A crash of rhinoceros".

Why should I let the toad work
Squat on my life ?
Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork
And drive the brute off ?
Read all about my travels around the world here.
Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog.

quote:

---

Originally posted by BobHale:
"A crash of rhinoceros".

---

I think I'd prefer "A proboscis of rhinoceri."

Note the period, classic-style, within the quotation marks and the Latin influence on the pluralization. When in doubt, just ask me.


(As my father used to say, "I may not be right, but I'm never wrong.")

quote:

---

Originally posted by C J Strolin:

quote:

---

Originally posted by BobHale:
"A crash of rhinoceros".

---

I think I'd prefer "A proboscis of rhinoceri."

---

Perhaps you would, but I was of course quoting and a true story ceases to be true if you change all of the actual facts in it.

Why should I let the toad work
Squat on my life ?
Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork
And drive the brute off ?
Read all about my travels around the world here.
Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog.