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Article: A glint of goldfish ... and other collective names for animals.(Endgame)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Writing!
- Article date:
- February 1, 2004
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Some of them are fairly straightforward--a herd of cattle, a pack of wolves, a flock of birds. Some are colorful, but logical--an army of ants, a colony of beavers, a brood of hens. Some seem to allude to attributes, or perceived attributes, of the animals themselves--a shrewdness of apes, a sloth of bears, a cowardice of curs. Some are rather funny, or just plain weird: a murder of crows, a convocation of eagles, an implausibility of gnus. Many of them are wonderful examples of words at play.
How up are you on your animal group names? We've selected some interesting ones, with an emphasis on the unusual. Match the animals in Column I with the group names in ...