5 ms·
The idea of specific group names for different animals is kinda weird anyway, coming from a non-native speaker. What's the point of having so many? It doesn't p
by kace91 6y ago
The idea of specific group names for different animals is kinda weird anyway, coming from a non-native speaker. What's the point of having so many? It doesn't provide any extra semantic meaning over just having general "herds" or "groups", since you mostly use the animal name anyway (ie. everyone will say "a murder of crows" instead of just "a murder" to avoid confusion).
I realise that language is mostly not designed and that there is no specific reason, just like gramatical gender is useless for non-gendered things and still many languages have it. but I'm curious about the historical path that led to that differentiation
- rightbyte 6y agoI feel the point is that there is not much to learn concerning english grammar since it is so simple compared to say french or german so the teacher reach for arcane trivia to fill out the school year. Maybe it is like english spelling that seems to mainly be designed to not look childish. Murder of crows sounds very poetic compared to flock.
- nicoburns 6y agoI'm guessing that the origins lie in the oral storytelling tradition, where such phrases would have been used in a poetic way to entertain. And the continued use is just because people find the words amusing and enjoy using them.