Gaggle works for me if they're on the ground, domestic or otherwise.. If they're in flight I think they're a bit more graceful than gaggle would attribute.. I just went to look up 'murder' on Merriam Webster Online (American English, but it's the best free online dictionary I've found, for my own purposes) as well as Longman's Dictionary of English Language & Culture (I like this one, despite I'm an OED user), and neither backed us up on murder either. But I remember murder from a very prim and proper grammar book I had to get through as a kid, so I'm not going to stop using it.. A "a murder of crows" search on Yahoo shows up lots of entries too, a reasonable few seem to be literary resources as well. Dictionary.com shows 'a murder of crows' but I'm not too clear on the pedigree of that website.
Also, something I thought was pretty neat.. Longman's second definition of gaggle was 'a group of noisy people who talk a lot' giving the example of a 'gaggle of schoolgirls'! All this while I thought it was just someone trying to be cute. Hmm a press of photographers.. My own mental links associate 'press' with reporters (non-photographically inclined) as well. These days one would be hard-pressed (no pun here) to find a fella with a notepad and his own camera trying to get the scoop. So.. nah.. I might say 'the press' on its own, but then again that'd have to be a reasonably specific type of photog (not my favourite type at that..) wouldn't it? Regards, Ryan PS. You lost me on the France thing.. what happened? ----- Original Message ----- From: "graywolf" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 7:31 AM Subject: Re: OT: While we're on language, have a collective noun won't ya.. > Most of those on those sites do not look like "correct" collective terms, but > ones someone made up to be cute. Interestingly, as far as I know a gaggle only > proper for domesticated geese. Wild ones are simply a flock. Of course folks > tend to use words rather indiscriminately at times. > > I withdrawn murder, as my dictionary does not defind that as proper term for a > group of crows, as I had understood it was. My in tention was, of course, a pun > on a happening in France a couple of years ago. > > Anyway how about a press of photographers. > > -- > > Ryan Lee wrote: > > > Hmm Ern, isn't an eider a type of duck? I just went to check and the one I > > was looking for was 'a flush of ducks'. It's more fascinating then I thought > > it'd be- I did a Yahoo search on "collective noun" and ducks > > and got > > http://www.nzbirds.com/Collective.html > > & > > http://www.sentex.net/~tntcomm/kwfn/numbers.htm > > and I must say it's a bountiful poet's resource! One for ducks was "a > > badelynge of ducks" and I have no clue what a badelynge or a badling is, but > > ooh.. :) And one I thought was fascinating, "an RSVP of egrets". Wouldn't > > have thought of it in a million years! 2 more entries in my bookmarks.. Btw, > > Tom- "a plague of photographers" alliterative and apt! > > > > Cheers, > > Ryan > > > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 10:27 AM > > Subject: Re: OT: While we're on language, have a collective noun won't ya.. > > > > > > > >>>----- Original Message ----- > >>>From: "Ryan Lee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > > >>>>I've had violent ducks believe my fingers held bread when it long ran > > > > out. > > > >>>I > >>> > >>>>think I get the picture :-) But hmm.. I forgot what it is for ducks- > > > > it's > > > >>>>not flock is it.. > >>> > >>>Quackpack? > >>> > >>>Jostein > >> > >>Eider. > >>But I think Jostein's suggestion has > >>merit. > > > > > > > > > > -- > graywolf > http://graywolfphoto.com > > "You might as well accept people as they are, > you are not going to be able to change them anyway." > > >
