Obstinate Buffaloes

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I believe baboons are known to boom on occasion.

That is, when they are not in congress.

C_b, your fingers must want to coin a new word. Babooms definitely has promise.

I vote for congress, rather than flange or troop of baboons. Because when you think of a group of baboons, what else do you think of at the same time? That's right: Congress.

Skipvia, this list is awesome!

Also, I keep typing "babooms." Why?

Here's a useful link on collective nouns.

I wouldn't mind meeting the academics who are throwing that term around, mcbaine. They must have very interesting jobs. If my job as an individual who knows pizza doesn't work out, I'd like to call them. :-)

A congress of baboons have always sounded funny to me. You can also have a troop of baboons. A made-up word that is being thrown around by some and even a few academics is a flange of baboons.

It might be too common, but what about a pride of lions? You seem to be giving ones like herd, flock, and swarm a pass, but I thought I'd offer it up.

Thanks, sionnach. Appropriately enough, it applies to foxes.

skulk is also a venereal term, though I forget of what.

Sting would like to invite you to a murder (of crows)

I have a lot of those days, reesetee.

Never mind, skipvia. You're just having a day. :-|

Actually, I just edited the list name to reflect the correct spelling of obstinate. We'll see what happens next...

A babble of Wordies! I like fabricating collective nouns (a shriek of teenage girls, a puff of smokers...shall I go on?).

And I love this: whG/bp (web hits on Google per billion pages). Found it in a link in your article, skipvia. :-)

Oh, and by the way, I think you can edit your list title, should you feel the need.

Well, I just discovered that I have been using that word incorrectly all my life. Obstinate would be the correct choice, since obstinant is not actually a word.

This article has an interesting perspective on this common mispronunciation/misuse, along with several others.

Too late for the list, though...

question, skipvia--we used to say "point of order?"--... is the word obstinant, or obstinate? or obstinancy? Just curious!

Ooh, I like that! A babble of wordies!

What do we think the collective noun for Wordies should be----a babble, perhaps?

Thanks, trivet. They're added. These make particular sense to me.

Reesetee--I very much appreciate that you added the animals. I cited them on Wordie if thy weren't already cited to make this a bit more clear.

I do love nouns of assemblage!

How about a romp of (river) otters / raft of (sea) otters?

I've had occasion to check on a few in OED too, and some are described as "fanciful"--meaning, I presume, that no one has a clue where they originated. ;-)

Oh, skipvia--I got that. I added the names of the animals only for reference.

Thanks, reesetee, for the additional nouns. They're being added. Some of these are available as phrases on this list, but I wanted to create a list using just the collective nouns without the animal(s) to which they referred.

In some cases, OED has citations. Some of them are from literature, others are just in the vernacular. Like reesetee, I don't usually pursue the etymology--I just like them.

It's interesting isn't it? Where do these come from? Does the OED have citations?

Yarb: I don't know. SoG: I don't know, but I wish I did. I just enjoy them for their own sake, I guess. :-) But you're right--lots of them are just plain nutty.

Who actually decides, for example, that a group of owls will be called a parliament?

Collective nouns are fun, but does anyone actually use them (apart from a few) in context? A dissimulation of birds?!

This has already become one of my favorite lists. :-) How about a dissimulation (of birds), a siege (of bitterns), a fling (of dunlins), a bazaar (of guillemots), a deceit (of lapwings), a parliament (of owls), a conspiracy (of ravens), and a plump (of waterfowl)?

I like birds, by the way. :-P