A Lamentation of Swans: in praise of collective nouns

A Lamentation of Swans: in praise of Collective Nouns (see below)

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Over 100,000 Tundra swans arrived at Long Point Bay in Norfolk, Ontario last week, after crossing Lake Erie during their spring migration from North Carolina and Chesapeake Bay in the U.S. After refueling, they’ll slowly make their way to nest in the Arctic Circle.

It’s an awe-inspiring sight to see thousands of these swans in flight overhead. I once had the opportunity to see such mass arrival, over 30 years ago, when I volunteered to band birds at the Long Point Bird Observatory in the area.  I will never forget the swans' majesty (nor deafening honk).

Thinking of  swans “en groupe,”  (or collective mass), my thoughts returned to the subject of yesterday’s blog: the beauty of the English language, and my desire to share it in its many forms. How does a collective mass of swans relate to any of this?  Follow me.

I started wondering what the name of the collective noun was to describe a group of swans. I knew it was a herd of elephants, team of horses,  clutch of chickens and  pod of whales. But what would I call a bunch of swans? 

A little research revealed the answer. A Lamentation (of course)! 

You see, I’ve returned, as promised, to the richness in  our language. What could be more beautiful to say, picture or see than a Lamentation of Swans. Parliament of Owls, perhaps?

One of the craziest oddities of the English language is that there are so many different collective nouns that all mean "group" but which are specific to what particular thing there is a group of: a herd of elephants, a crowd of people, a box of crayons, a pad of paper, etc.

There is great diversity in the collective nouns associated with animals, from a sleuth of bears to a murder of crows. I so enjoy these terms, I couldn’t resist making what I hope will be a very enjoyable list, below, of the correct terms to describe some  animal groups. Some terms you’ll know (swarm of bees, pack of mules), others you’ll simply wonder ‘how and why did anyone come up with a name like ' chine' to describe a  group of them darn crazy polecats?'

I’m not sure who made up the terms, but whoever did deserves a medal. Some are beautiful (exhaltation of larks!), some fun, and all, clever. The choice of group name doesn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason in regards to the animal it describes. There may be a wonderful story behind each, though, so I will do a bit of further research, Should I find anything of interest, I’ll share.

In the meantime, I’ll assume that someone with a real love of English, a bit of mischief in his or her soul, and great vocabulary came up with the idea for a husk of hares, convocation of eagles, clan of hyenas and  murder of crows.

The collective nouns below have been selected. Please excuse my formatting. I'm giving up in my quest for getting the lines straight.

For a full list of the collective nouns, click here  Excuse the poor set-up below!)

colony            of            ants

shrewdness   of            apes

congress        of            baboons

sleuth            of            bears

lodge             of            beavers

hive              of             bees

swarm          of            bees

flock             of            birds

sounder       of            boar

brace            of            bucks

swarm          of            butterflies

wake            of             buzzards

drove           of             cattle

clutch           of            chicks

cartload       of            chimpanzees

bed               of            clams

quiver          of            cobras

cover            of            coots

band            of            coyotes

congregation of        crocodiles

murder        of           crows

herd             of            deer

litter            of            dogs (puppies)

pod              of            dolphins

aerie            of            eagles

herd            of            elk

mob            of            emus

business    of            ferrets

school        of            fish

leash          of            foxes

army          of            frogs

gaggle        of           geese

colony       of            gulls

prickle      of            hedgehogs

brood        of            hens

team         of            horses

cry            of            hounds

charm      of            hummingbirds

scold        of            jays

smack      of           jellyfish

deceit       of           lapwings

exaltation of          larks

leap         of            leopards

pride       of            lions

lounge    of            lizards

plague    of            locusts

sord        of            mallards

company of          moles

pack        of           mules

parliament of       owls

bed         of            oysters

company of          parrots

covey      of            partridges

flock        of            pigeons

string      of            ponies

pod         of            porpoises

pack       of            rats

rhumba of           rattlesnakes

storytelling  of    ravens

crash    of            rhinocerouses

run       of             salmon

harem  of            seals

shiver   of            shark

flock     of           sheep

chine   of            polecats

string  of            ponies

passel  of           possum

warren of          rabbits

nursery of         raccoons

rhumba of        rattlesnakes

crash of             rhinocerouses

murmuration of  starlings

pod       of         whales

pack     of         wolves

zeal       of        zebras

Try dropping a few of these fabulous terms casually into conversation one day, as in:  “I heard that a rumba of rattlesnakes was making it difficult to hike in the Grand Canyon.”  People will beg for more, so it’s probably good to memorize ten of your favourite nouns to keep your audience happy.

My favourites? Passel of possum; storytelling of ravens; exhaltation of larks; lounge of lizards and deceit of lapwings.  

What are yours?