3 ms·

Someone just made these up in the middle ages: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-a-group-of-crows-called-a-murder https://www.quora.com/Why-is-a-group-of-crows-call

Someone just made these up in the middle ages: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-a-group-of-crows-called-a-murder https://www.quora.com/Why-is-a-group-of-crows-called-a-murde... I have never heard or read the words "a murder of crows" (or "a parliament of owls" and similar contrivances) except in lists of collective nouns.

thaumasiotes 9y ago
The example was poorly chosen, but obligatory measure words are very much a feature of English; compare "a pair of pants" / "a pair of scissors" / "a pair of glasses" / "a loaf of bread". Note that all of those "pairs" refer to a single object.