5 ms·

This gives me a chance to bring up my favorite collective noun for a group of animals: a bloat of hippopotami. Although a "dazzle" of zebras comes a second clos

This gives me a chance to bring up my favorite collective noun for a group of animals: a bloat of hippopotami. Although a "dazzle" of zebras comes a second close. One of my favorite quirks of English, don't think other languages have our penchant for giving animal groups special names.

philjohn 2y ago
Let's not forget a Murder of Crows.
gonzo41 2y ago
Don't forget a wisdom of wombats.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
croisillon 2y ago
i thought those collective words were (mostly) a recent invention? https://medium.com/@Naturalish/the-absurd-truth-behind-collective-animal-nouns-f4a4cde48b4f https://medium.com/@Naturalish/the-absurd-truth-behind-colle...
- BurningFrog 2y ago
  Yeah, nobody really uses 95% of those.
- ConsiderCrying 2y ago
  They are, sure, but they're really fun and some of them caught on. I think it's the exact kind of funny little thing we should encourage, language doesn't have to be serious.
aaco 2y ago
Other languages also have this exact same quirk, like Spanish[1] or Portuguese[2]. [1] https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nombre_colectivo https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nombre_colectivo [2] https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substantivo_coletivo https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substantivo_coletivo
- ConsiderCrying 2y ago
  Wow, that is fascinating. I will have to use auto-translation but definitely saving these for an evening read, thank you.
- aspenmayer 2y ago
  In English, these are called terms of venery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_noun#Terms_of_venery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_noun#Terms_of_vener... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animal_names https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animal_names
dudeinjapan 2y ago
Japanese has 3 counting particles for animals. The generic one is 匹 "hiki" (ippiki, ni-hiki, san-biki) for dogs, cats, insects, fish, etc. Larger animals like horses and elephants use 頭 "toh" meaning "heads". Birds and rabbits use 羽 "wa" which means "wings." There are various theories why rabbits get counted the same as birds, possibly because rabbit meat tastes like chicken.

philjohn 2y ago

Let's not forget a Murder of Crows.

gonzo41 2y ago

Don't forget a wisdom of wombats.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

croisillon 2y ago

i thought those collective words were (mostly) a recent invention? https://medium.com/@Naturalish/the-absurd-truth-behind-collective-animal-nouns-f4a4cde48b4f https://medium.com/@Naturalish/the-absurd-truth-behind-colle...

BurningFrog 2y ago
Yeah, nobody really uses 95% of those.
ConsiderCrying 2y ago
They are, sure, but they're really fun and some of them caught on. I think it's the exact kind of funny little thing we should encourage, language doesn't have to be serious.

aaco 2y ago

Other languages also have this exact same quirk, like Spanish[1] or Portuguese[2]. [1] https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nombre_colectivo https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nombre_colectivo [2] https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substantivo_coletivo https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substantivo_coletivo

ConsiderCrying 2y ago
Wow, that is fascinating. I will have to use auto-translation but definitely saving these for an evening read, thank you.
aspenmayer 2y ago
In English, these are called terms of venery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_noun#Terms_of_venery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_noun#Terms_of_vener... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animal_names https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animal_names

dudeinjapan 2y ago

Japanese has 3 counting particles for animals. The generic one is 匹 "hiki" (ippiki, ni-hiki, san-biki) for dogs, cats, insects, fish, etc. Larger animals like horses and elephants use 頭 "toh" meaning "heads". Birds and rabbits use 羽 "wa" which means "wings." There are various theories why rabbits get counted the same as birds, possibly because rabbit meat tastes like chicken.