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Original poster

Collective nouns

52 replies

DebbieTheCat · 07/07/2025 09:48

Here is a 'loveliness' of ladybirds* on my dahlia plant...

What other collective nouns are suitably apt?
I love a murmuration of starlings and a parliament of owls.

*a bit poetic licence as there are only five in the pic, and not hundreds 😅

Collective nouns
OP posts:
TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 07/07/2025 17:42

A Baloney of politicians.

SerendipityJane · 07/07/2025 18:04

JurgenKloppsTeeth · 07/07/2025 16:39

I discovered last week that a group of puffins is occasionally known as an ‘improbability’ 😁

I also heard "puffling" on QI ages ago ...

SerendipityJane · 07/07/2025 18:07

A slalom of potholes.

Libre2 · 07/07/2025 18:13

Apparently it’s a creep of tortoises, which I like. And also for domestic rats - a mischief of rats, rather than the slightly less cuddly plague of rats for their feral siblings.

Original poster
DebbieTheCat · 07/07/2025 18:13

I'm liking these ones 😄

What would be the collective noun for a group of MNs?

OP posts:
PlasticAcrobat · 07/07/2025 18:15

What's the collective noun for collective nouns?

An arbitrariness of collective nouns? A Victorianism? An eclecticism? A playfulness?

SerendipityJane · 07/07/2025 18:17

DebbieTheCat · 07/07/2025 18:13

I'm liking these ones 😄

What would be the collective noun for a group of MNs?

A harpie ?

Ontheedgeofit · 07/07/2025 18:26

DebbieTheCat · 07/07/2025 18:13

I'm liking these ones 😄

What would be the collective noun for a group of MNs?

A gossip of MNs
A sigh of MNs
A grumble of MNs
A drama of MNs

Flozle · 07/07/2025 18:28

A blessing of narwhals ❤️

Original poster
DebbieTheCat · 07/07/2025 18:38

That’s lovely @Flozle , not heard of that one before!

Back to the MNs, what about a flounce of MNs?

OP posts:
GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 07/07/2025 18:59

SerendipityJane · 07/07/2025 18:04

I also heard "puffling" on QI ages ago ...

Show quote history

I thought that was a baby puffin! It really suits them anyway - little balls of fluff.

PractisingMyTelekenipsis · 07/07/2025 19:00

DebbieTheCat · 07/07/2025 18:13

I'm liking these ones 😄

What would be the collective noun for a group of MNs?

I thought we were a nest of vipers?

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 07/07/2025 19:00

A charm of goldfinches is one of my favourites.

oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends · 07/07/2025 19:01

A tick of auditors.

oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends · 07/07/2025 19:04

A pearl-clutch of MNers.

TroysMammy · 07/07/2025 20:01

An impossibility of MNers
A whatthefuckery of MNers
A collective of MNers
An incomprehensible of MNers.

HarryVanderspeigle · 07/07/2025 21:43

An argument of work meetings

TheThreeHeadedBeast · 07/07/2025 21:47

FadedRed · 07/07/2025 16:42

A parliament of owls is nice. 🦉 🦉 🦉 🦉 🦉 🦉
(not to mention A Flange of Gorillas)

I thought it was a whoop of gorilla's and a flange of baboons....

ErrolTheDragon · 07/07/2025 21:49

A zephyr of bumbarrels
(That’s the country name for long-tailed tits)

ErrolTheDragon · 07/07/2025 21:50

DebbieTheCat · 07/07/2025 18:38

That’s lovely @Flozle , not heard of that one before!

Back to the MNs, what about a flounce of MNs?

That’d be a flounce of STBX-MNers.

FrangipaniBlue · 07/07/2025 21:56

A bloat of hippopotami

FourLove · 07/07/2025 21:59

A doss of students

PlumpAndCircumstance · 07/07/2025 22:05

I love to see a murmuration .

Vinvertebrate · 07/07/2025 22:12

Autistic DS is currently fixated on collective nouns. My favourite so far is a snuggle of sloths.

FadedRed · 07/07/2025 22:37

TheThreeHeadedBeast · 07/07/2025 21:47

I thought it was a whoop of gorilla's and a flange of baboons....

Show quote history

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0952126/

The original of the ‘flange of gorillas’.

"Not the Nine O'Clock News" Episode #2.5 (TV Episode 1980) ⭐ 8.0 | Comedy

| TV-PG

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0952126