Saturday, October 18, 2003
Collective Nouns
Had a conversation earlier tonite about lions and how in a group they're called a "pride." I remember reading somewhere that there were other really nicely poetic collective nouns used to describe other animals.
A parliament of rooks (a bird that's similar to a crow).
A murder of crows.
An exaltation of larks.
A murmuration of starlings.
An unkindness of ravens.
After a brief google search, it turns out that there's some reasoning behind the choice of words.
A parliament of rooks derives from the way the birds noisily congregate in their nests in tall trees.
An exaltation of larks is a poetic comment on the climb of the skylark high into the sky while uttering its twittering song.
A murmuration of starlings is a muted way to describe the chattering of a group of those birds as they come into roost each evening.
An unkindness of ravens refers to an old legend that ravens push their young out of the nest to survive as best they can.
There were even some for people. An "eloquence of lawyers" or a "greed of lawyers." A "tedium of golfers." An "addition of mathematicians."
Heh heh, as a challenge can you guys come up with any creative ones on your own?
Heres one that I've come up with:
A "nagging of parents."
:) other intersting things that happen in when insomnia and the wee hours of the morning are mixed together.
A parliament of rooks (a bird that's similar to a crow).
A murder of crows.
An exaltation of larks.
A murmuration of starlings.
An unkindness of ravens.
After a brief google search, it turns out that there's some reasoning behind the choice of words.
A parliament of rooks derives from the way the birds noisily congregate in their nests in tall trees.
An exaltation of larks is a poetic comment on the climb of the skylark high into the sky while uttering its twittering song.
A murmuration of starlings is a muted way to describe the chattering of a group of those birds as they come into roost each evening.
An unkindness of ravens refers to an old legend that ravens push their young out of the nest to survive as best they can.
There were even some for people. An "eloquence of lawyers" or a "greed of lawyers." A "tedium of golfers." An "addition of mathematicians."
Heh heh, as a challenge can you guys come up with any creative ones on your own?
Heres one that I've come up with:
A "nagging of parents."
:) other intersting things that happen in when insomnia and the wee hours of the morning are mixed together.
It's 3 in the morning and I can't sleep. It's occured to me how fragile a thing confidence is. I'm reminded of something I once saw in Venice. Within a store that sold glass trinkets I saw a craftsman forge a horse out of melted glass. It looked extremely difficult. And like confidence, that glass horse is much harder to build than it is to shatter.
Why is that?
That seems to be a recurrent theme in life, things are much easier to destroy than they are to create. Things that come immediately to mind are Governments. Much easier to topple than build. Trust. Must easier to lose than to gain. I'm sure the list goes on.
Another irony I've noticed is that it seems much easier to be bold when you've got nothing left to lose than it is when you've got everything to lose, although that's probably when you most need to be bold.
Funny the things you think about when you can't sleep...
Why is that?
That seems to be a recurrent theme in life, things are much easier to destroy than they are to create. Things that come immediately to mind are Governments. Much easier to topple than build. Trust. Must easier to lose than to gain. I'm sure the list goes on.
Another irony I've noticed is that it seems much easier to be bold when you've got nothing left to lose than it is when you've got everything to lose, although that's probably when you most need to be bold.
Funny the things you think about when you can't sleep...
