Most collective nouns, or "terms of venery," were coined during the 15th century. Many were codified in books of courtesy, like the 1486 classic Book of St. Albans. St. Albans was a handbook for ...

Variously idiosyncratic, intriguing and often unerringly apt in their descriptions of gatherings of birds, animals and people a damning of jurors, an incredulity of cuckolds — most of the collective ...

Collective nouns are an essential part of language. While we may not use them as often in our daily conversations, we did memorise some of them in school. From a pack of cards to a litter of puppies, ...

A German friend and I were discussing collective nouns. You know the kind of thing: A swarm of bees. A bunch of flowers. A deck of cards. I asked him if there were such things in his language. He said ...

If you’ve ever stumbled across a ‘charm of goldfinches’ or a ‘crash of rhinos’, you’ll know that the names we give groups of animals can be particularly poetic in the English language. Some of them ...

Collective nouns may seem like quirky ways to describe groups, but 500 years ago, they were your ticket to the in-crowd. Most collective nouns, or “terms of venery,” were coined during the 15th ...