We say a congregacyon of people, a hoost of men, a felyshyppynge of jomen, and a bevy of ladyes; we must speak of a herde of dere, swannys, cranys, or wrenys, a sege of herons or bytourys, a muster of pecockes, a watche of nyghtyngales, a fllyghte of doves, a claterynge of choughes, a pryde of lyons, a slewthe of beeres, a gagle of geys, a skulke of foxes, a sculle of frerys; a pontificalitye of prestys, and a superfluyte of nonnes.
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So wrote Dame
Juliana Berners (Barnes; Bernes; b. 1388?), the English writer on hawking and hunting, in the
Boke of St Albans, in 1486.
Dame Juliana thus kindly provided us with a colourful collection of collective nouns, my favourite being "a superfluity of nuns". She didn't, however, have everything covered, so I humbly propose several that came to me in the last few minutes, after the rain:
A galaxy of frangipanni flowers outside my door.
A Cappadocia of ant nests in the park.
A Central Station of ants on my sink.
A groundhog of kids with body boards.
A Von Daniken of crab patterns on Sandy Beach.
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