{I found myself suddenly alone. Postcard collage, Gracia Haby. (Click to enlarge)}
Thank you for your interest in this new side project.
Our fox friends waiting in the wings, Elaine, Louise and I are looking forward to sometime next week sharing the first instalment with you.
Until then, you’d best polish your whiskers,
G
have you heard heard the phrase "terms of venery?" i'm fond of "a murder of ravens."
ReplyDeletethis is from wikipedia:
Terms of venery (words for groups of animals)
The tradition of using collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals stems from an English hunting tradition, dating back to at least the fifteenth century. Terms of venery were used by gentlemen to distinguish themselves from yeomen and others and formed part of their education. Only a few of the terms were for groups of animals; others, such as "singular" for boars, described their characteristics or habits of life. Misunderstandings over the centuries led to all the terms being regarded as collective nouns and some became unrecognisable through changes to the language and transcription errors: "besynys" (for ferrets) became "fesynes" instead of "busy-ness".
Sometimes a term of venery will apply to a group only in a certain context. "Herd" can properly refer to a group of wild horses, but not to a group of domestic horses. A "paddling of ducks" only refers to ducks on water. A group of geese on the ground are referred to as a "gaggle of geese" while a "skein of geese" would refer to them in flight.
Interest in constituent-object-specific collective nouns has always remained high, and the coining of candidate collective nouns has been a pastime (usually humorous) of many writers ever since, including for non-animal nouns, such as professions, e.g., a "sequitur of logicians".
Thanks, Wordybird. Yes, I’m familiar with terms of venery, and am forever searching about wikipedia. Wikipedia can prove both a handy reference and something of a treasure trove, don’t you find?
ReplyDeleteI hope you will enjoy our largely visual responses to a paddling of ducks and a skein of geese. We’ll be using such gems as an anchor to link our work.
see you,
g