Day # 168 Tribes

The English language is a funny thing.  Ask Professor Higgins.

 "There even are places where English completely disappears. 
 In America they haven't used it in years."


Somewhere in the course of the evolution of our mother tongue, some person or persons had to decide what to call groups of things.  Bananas, when finally encountered in the plural, were bunches.  Shoes, for the well-to-do what could afford, them came in pairs and donuts were by the baker's dozen.

Groupings of our non-human friends created all sorts of opportunities for naming and that opportunity was not missed.

Some groupings of the members of the animal kingdom seem less than imaginative, perhaps only by dint of common usage.  A pack of dogs is nothing out of the ordinary, nor is a school of fishes, regardless of their subject matter.  Herds of ungulate mammals do not raise an eyebrow and a gaggle of geese is quite common, especially here in the GreyNorWet where the Canadian geese have long since ceased to migrate and wander about in said gaggles hissing and pooping in every public park.

Pause, however, to consider that a group of gorillas, upland or lowland, are called a band.  There is also a band called the Gorrillaz.  A group of giraffes, should you be lucky enough to see one, are properly referred to as a tower and, of course, a bunch of whales in the same bit of ocean are called a pod.   A band I understand and a tower is evocative but I think that a pod is reaching somewhat.  What do peas and cetaceans have in common?

When you gather a group of goats together you have a tribe, complete with the bearded elders and thousands of bats add up to a colony (and tons of guano).  Should one be successful in an attempt to herd cats one would have a clouder, which has to be theoretical for the most part.

If you pass under a tree full of crows, a not uncommon occurrence hereabouts, you will have just seen, and likely heard, a murder.  The etymology of the term "murder of crows" is something of a debated item which you can research yourself but the term is still the correct one.

Yet when faced with a group of porcupines, our language creating forebears came to perhaps their finest hour.  In their wisdom they forever after dubbed a grouping of porcupines to be a "prickle".  This wondrous bit of linguistic charm would allow one to say "My God Bob, look out for the prickle of that porcupine!" or, alternatively, "My God Bob, look out for the prickle of porcupines!" and to be equally correct in doing so.

"But use proper English and you're regarded as a freak...."


There, there Professor.  It will all be fine and you will get the girl in the last act.