Collective Nouns facts

While investigating facts about Collective Nouns For Animals and Collective Nouns List A-z, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The collective noun for a group of flamingos is a flamboyance; for butterflies, a kaleidoscope.

how to teach collective nouns?

The collective nouns we use for animals (gaggle of geese, herd of deer etc.) mostly come from the Book of St Alban's published in 1486. It also included terms for professions such as a melody of harpists, a sentence of judges and a superfluity of nuns.

What collective nouns of gorillas?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering a cluster of what collective nouns. Here are 26 of the best facts about Collective Nouns Worksheet and Collective Nouns For Birds I managed to collect.

what collective nouns for cats?

1. The collective noun for a Groundhog is a "repetition". As in "a repetition of groundhogs".

2. The collective noun for a group of geese is a gaggle only when they're on the ground. When in flight the collective noun is a skein.

3. There is no collective noun for koalas because they aren't observed moving in groups

4. The collective noun for geese changes based on what they're doing. On the ground, they're a gaggle or a flock. In flight, they're a skein, wedge or chevron.

5. James Lipton, host of "Inside the Actors' Studeo," is 90 years old and has worked in TV for 66 years. He also wrote a book in 1968 called "An Exaltation of Larks" that catalogs collective nouns.

6. The collective nouns for cats are "a pounce of cats", or "clowder", "clutter", "dout", "nuisance", "glorifying", or "glare". Wild cats are a "destruction" of cats.

7. The collective noun for a group of hedgehogs is an "array", but they rarely congregate since hedgehogs are solitary creatures who usually come together only to mate

8. The Book of Saint Albans (1468) includes terms of venery (ex. army of ants, herd of cattle), but also a large number of collective nouns such as "blush of boys", "observance of hermits", and a "superfluity of nuns".

9. The collective noun for peacocks is "an Ostentation"

Why are collective nouns important?

You can easily fact check why use collective nouns by examining the linked well-known sources.

The collective noun for kangaroos is a mob.

The collective noun for a group of rattlesnakes is called a "Rhumba"... - source

There is more than one collective noun for a group of hippos. They can be called a bloat, a crash, a herd, a pod, or a dale. - source

The collective noun for hamsters is a horde. I.e a Horde of Hamsters

The collective noun for a group of bears is a sloth (or sleuth) - source

When are collective nouns said to be plural?

The collective noun for a group of parrots is a pandemonium

How do collective nouns differ from plural nouns?

The collective noun for penguins in the water is called a ‘raft'. Whereas, a group of penguins on land is called a ‘waddle‘. Although other collective nouns do exist for penguins including rookery, colony, and huddle.

Feamyng, a purported collective noun for ferrets which appeared in several dictionaries, is actually the result of a centuries-long chain of typographical errors (from busyness to besyness to fesynes to fesnyng to feamyng)

Collective nouns for a group of ravens include "unkindness", "treachery" and "conspiracy".

The collective noun for a group of chimpanzees is a 'cartload'. For zebra it's a 'dazzle', and for wildebeest, an 'implausibility'.

A Bloat of Hippos, A Prickle of Porcupines, And a Wisdom of Wombats - Collective nouns for various animals as groups