What Is The Collective Noun For Humans?
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- Опубліковано 26 чер 2024
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SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
Group on Etymonline: www.etymonline.com/word/group
Terms of Venery: linguisticator.com/terms-of-v...
Who Decides On The Right Collective Noun For Something?: blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2...
Why Are There So Many Different Words For Groups Of Animals?: / why_are_there_so_many_...
A Shrewdness of Apes And Other Odd Group Names: www.treehugger.com/culture/a-...
Collective Nouns: www.collectivenouns.biz/
Library On Etymonline: www.etymonline.com/word/library
Quiver on Etymonline: www.etymonline.com/word/quiver
Origin Of The Word Cocktail For An Alcoholic Drink: www.todayifoundout.com/index.p...
Herd On Etymonline: www.etymonline.com/word/herd
Flock On Etymonline: www.etymonline.com/word/flock...
An Unkindness Of Ravens: www.amazon.co.uk/Unkindness-R...
Marty Gots a Plan Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
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cant wait!
An Unkindness of Raven.
Edit: well jokes on me for commenting before the video is over.
I want my cake back. Where do those birds live?
Dolphins actually name themselves, while humans are given their names.
Given that "troop" is generally applied to most primates and Humans are primates I guess it's a troop of humans. Alternatively I think "a gaggle of what-are-you-smokings" is also applicable.
A group of Canadians is called an apology
A group of Americans is called a buffet.
@Channel DeFUNKt a group of Irish is called a Pub
a group of Floridians is known as a fugitive
A group of stereotypers is called a Racist.
@@gabe7630 I can't be racist to Irish people, I'm ethnically Irish.
I am a big fan of;
* A Worker's Union of Ants
* A Christopher Walken Fanclub of Ocelots
* A Sombrero of Chihuahuas
"A Worker's Union of Ants"
Commie ant nation?
Specifically, RED ants.
*soviet anthem plays in a high pitch*
Stalin is proud
@@GumSkyloard for red fire ants only
Piccolo: what do you call a group of humans
Mr Popo: an infestation
This.
I knew this comment existed somewhere
Looking for this.
Was looking for this.
ua-cam.com/video/djkKWktmKbs/v-deo.html
The collective noun for 80s music is A Flock of Seagulls
Yes
There's a special place in the non-existing Hell for you
So I was Talking about the Space Age, and as The More you Live the More you Love, to Transfer Affection was what I was Wishing but I Ran, once I saw Who's that Girl? But Never Again, Nightmares it's in my DNA...
Troy Miller yes, at the peak of the I Ran hostage crisis.
Troy Miller nice!9
My favourite has always been "Murder of Crows"
I like a pandemonium of parrots and a flamboyance of flamingos...also a dazzle of zebras is an excellent term of venery!
I’ve always liked a “Fluffle of Bunnies”
Unkindness of ravens
Am embarrassment of pandas has always been my favorite
A dab of middle schoolers
A unoriginal of this joke
A reddit of Edgelords
@@KyleKyle__ More like a 4chan of Edgelords.
And a Reddit of Smartasses.
It's kinda funny how many cultures in the west depict crows/ravens as misfortune, while many of the Nordic depict them as guides and such
Odin's spy was a raven, so I imagine the Church tried to make them look evil, so that Odin worshipers would be Satanists.
In China crows are seen as a bad omen too.
Crows come to feast on the dead and so they are typically associated with death and are seen as omens of death to come across the globe. They are also very intelligent and were used by Nords as you pointed out as guides to find land, so yeah we have this double view of them as a species.
Ho Athanatos Εφχαριστό!
@@allanrichardson1468 In Ancient Greece if you wanted to tell someone to go die or go to hell, you would says Εις τας κόρακας (To the crows) to them.
My favorite collective noun is a business of ferrets.
A destruction of cats.
someone beat me to it....
B Nichols they do get to business!
I remember a collective noun for something being a gaggle but I can't remember which animal it was.
@@thetinykid4169 geese
I'd argue the best collective term for human beings is simply "crowd." As in, "a crowd of people." While you could apply the word crowd to non-humans, I don't think we typically do. I'm sure I've never said "a crowd of cats" or "there was a big crowd of frogs" or anything like that.
"I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;"
William Wordsworth
@@Richard_Ashton He was meaning their was "someone" else there; the daffodils, so he wasnt truly alone as one can never be in nature as you're always surrounded by life.so the daffodils are just a stand in for people...
I hate poetry, the description is longer than the thing itself
why isn't a murder of crows called a crowd?
Crowd is a good one, but I think "an assembly of humans" is probably my favorite.
I like Christopher Paolini's collective noun, a thunder of dragons.
I love Christopher Paolini's books
2:44 no, a group of cards is a set. A complete group of cards is a deck.
For many objects, there is a collective noun for the complete or large and incomplete versions. Such as a quiver of some arrows or a sheaf of many arrows
All runs are sets but not all sets are runs.
From the television industry, two more about marriage:
A desperation of housewives, and a stumbling of husbands (ref. the classic "Dick van Dyke Show" title scene).
Going further in the family, a pampering of grandmothers, and a reminiscence of grandfathers.
Relating to the wedding itself, a monarchy of brides (each one being "the queen"), and sometimes a frustration of bridesmaids.
A deception of attorneys. A desperation of workers, vs an exploitation of executives (and a fleecing of CEOs).
Anyone else?
As a writer, I’ve came up with some collective nouns for the fantasy creatures featured. Probably my favorite of these is a masquerade of changelings. Pretty self explanatory - at a masquerade a large amount of people gather together while wearing some form of disguise, and being in disguise is the most distinguishing feature of a changeling
FoxFaerie
“I’ve came up with”
Are you sure you’re a writer?
There's always the classic hoard, usually of Orcs. Also, I hear mob used for Goblins fairly frequently, or Army of goblins depending on the setting, but in those cases it's usually a literal army.
FoxFaerie how about “a thunder of dragons” from eragon
Community? Clique? Team? Friend-group? Moiety?
...Mess?
Timothy McLean Crowd? Tribe?
Horde?
In Lithuania we say a pile of humans
A shitload of humans
Metall Tribe seems perfect
It's a squad. Like for squids.
You sure it's not for kids?
Matthew Schooley Nah, that's called "a gang"
Like the one for gangsters
And Sycillians
A group of squids is a platoon.
From the sociological standpoint, the correct term is *social aggregate*. But there are endless terms for groups of humans, all context dependent.
Excellent episode of Name Explain! That one person who disliked it is definitely a rascal. My favourite collective noun is a congress of baboons, for reasons which should be obvious. I think the reason collective nouns came about was to show that you had received an education and therefore knowing the correct collective noun to use was a mark of status, which you basically covered in your video anyway. IIRC, it was mentioned in an episode of QI. I'm unfortunately too brassic to buy your book, but I'm going to ask my Mum if she'll kindly get it me for Christmas. Doubtless she will want to read it herself once it arrives!
ETA: can I suggest a "gossip of girls" and a "loudness of lads"?
ETA2: Awww! Thanks for the ❤ Patrick! You've made my day! 😊
There's now 4 dislikes, so they've become a rascal.
Zappa Woman No, It should be a laughter of lasses.
Zappa Woman
Are you a southerner?
A solitude of introverts.
Though, my favorite one has to be a swarm of bananas. No one else save myself and a few friends uses this, but we use it every chance we get. One of us was asking what do you call a group of bananas. However, due to excess noise, I misheard it as "What do you call a group of ants."
To which I dutifully repled, "A swarm." Everyone sort of stopped and looked at me. "No, really," I continued, rather confused at their confusion. "That's what you call a group of ants. It's a swarm."
"No, he said bananas. Not ants."
"Oh." I paused for a moment thinking it over then declared. "Actually, I like the idea of a swarm of bananas too." Everyone else agreed that it was far superior and we've been using it ever since.
Huh I always thought that the parliament of owls in The Silver Chair was a joke based on the already existing name.
An unhappiness of husbands is hilarious! And I really like a parliament of owls, too!
"A group of introverts is called an awkward"
-Exurb1a
In many asian languages, like Chinese and Japanese, all words have a collective measure word for them.
Same with Korean.
Yeah they have some very weird counters
You mean classifier nouns? They aren't exactly the same as group nouns, because they are used for singular nouns as well, and tend to be based on the general shape of objects. Examples in Thai: Nang-seu lem mai, a new book [book classifier-for-books new]; maa tua yai, the big dog [dog classifier-for-animals big]; rot khan si daeng, the red car [car classifier-for-vehicles colour red]. In English if you say, "a large pod of whales," the listener knows right away that you are talking about more than one whale. Or perhaps about a variety of enormous peas from Wales.
Not really, it's still grouped up in a weird manner.
Those words in Chinese and Japanese are not necessarily ‘collective’ but yes, definitely about measurement. So they are usually referred as ‘quantitafiers’ by grammarians.
The military has collective nouns for group of soldiers. Division Brigade Battalion company Squad just to name a few that the Army uses. Come to think about it how these different echelons in the Army got their names might make an interesting video.
lol. a division is called a division because it is half of an army that contains different types of fighting and support units together.
a corps is a single body of support units (signals, logistics, engineers, marine soldiers for a navy), a regiment is called used to be the largest number of companies that could be organised by one man (a colonel),
a battalion (or battle-line) is half of a regiment, a company is the largest number of men that can be under one man’s command (~140-200), variations like squadron refer to units that were on horseback, or otherwise not line infantry. then there are platoons/troops that are a subdivision of companies/squadrons, and then sections, then sub sections, then the informal buddy-buddy system.
Also 'A Corps of Apples'.
Croatian is a bit simpler than English when it comes to collective nouns for animals. Here are the most often used ones:
Krdo - used for horses, deer, elephants
Stado - used for sheep, cows, goats, zebras
Čopor - used for dogs, cats, and all the wildlife from those families (wolves, tigers, lions, ect.)
Jato - used for basically all birds and some fish
Roj - used for bees, wasps and similar insects
There's something weird I wanna tell you something. I'm most countries, owls are considered wise while in my country Bharat/India, owls are considered dumb considering their tendency to stay awake at night.
In primary school we were always taught a crowd of people.
*An Infestation*
That would explain why the rest of the universe is expanding, speeding away from us. "Run away quickly! Earth has got _humans_ on it! Eeewww!"
I can hear Mr Popo
Mr Popo is always right
I came here for this
SkyTech RTS Damn it I KNEW there would be this comment 👌🏻
"An impatience of wives"
"An unhappiness of husbands"
Are straight people ok?
Animal collective nouns in Romanian are only two:
-turmă:for terrestic animals
-stol:for birds
Bob, We are all bob
I thought Bob was your uncle?
Bob for males
Vagene for females.
*WE ARE VENOM*
+Gabe Hey WE ARE GROOT.
A bevy of Bobs.
"Fleet" is a cool collective noun, and it's not even only for ships. It's for any large ammount of purpose-driven vehicles
May I suggest a humanity of humans? The context of how we use humanity now isn't far from it as a collective noun.
I think this obsession with collective nouns is quite unique to the English language. In Italian, there are nowhere near as many nouns. E.g. : all groups of fish are a "Banco" ( because fish were sold in the markets on tables/banks) or all groups of birds are a "Stormo" ( from the onomatopoeia of the collective flapping sound)
Puk you who cares for italian
Me
lorenzo suprani In Chinese, there are a lot more collective nouns than there are in English because the Chinese language does not have a plural form for nouns. For example, 个 is the measure word for a person, but it can also be used as a general measure word whenever you don’t know which collective noun to use. 群 is the measure word for a group of people rather than just people. 名 is a measure word used whenever you are talking about the people in a school, for example 一名老师, or “a teacher” or 一名学生, a student. 只 is a measure word for pets, such as 一只狗, a dog, or 一只猫, a cat. However, if you are specifically talking about a fish as a pet, you use 条, not 只. 条 can also be used as a measure word for dragons and long or flexible objects, such as a wire or pants, or rivers (一条河), or routes, such as 一条线, a subway line, or 一条路, a road. Besides pets, there are other measure words for different types of animals. 头, which means “head”, is the measure word for cattle, while 匹 is the measure word for horses. Meanwhile, 家 is the measure word for restaurants and stores, while 所 is a measure word for schools and hospitals. 支 or 根 is a measure word for pens and other stick like objects, while 张 is a measure word for flat objects, such as 一张纸, a piece of paper, or 一张桌子, a table, or 一张照片, a photo. 把 is the measure word for small objects or objects that you can hold in your hand, such as 一把雨伞, an umbrella, or 一把椅子, a chair. 双 is the measure word for pairs of objects, such as 一双筷子, a pair of chopsticks, 一双鞋子, a pair of shoes, or 一双袜子, a pair of socks. However, you cannot use 双 when referring to pants. For that, you have to use 条. 本 is the measure word for books. 篇, meanwhile, is the measure word for newspaper articles, essays, or scholarly research papers. 首 is the measure word for songs or works of poetry. 套 is the measure word for suits, houses, apartments, or a set of items, such as 一套书, a set of books. 件 is the measure word for shirts, while 副 is the measure word for accessories or other items that you wear, such as 一副耳环, a set of earrings, or 一副眼镜, a glasses. 条, as I mentioned previously, is a measure word for pants. 杯 is a measure word for cups of something, such as 一杯茶, a cup of tea, or 一杯咖啡, a cup of coffee. 罐 is the measure word for cans, such as 一罐可乐, a can of cola, and 瓶 is the measure word for bottles, such as 一瓶水, or a bottle of water. These are not the only measure words that exist in Chinese, but these are all that I can think of for now. If anyone else reading this knows Chinese, they are welcome to add on to this list.
Japanese has a bunch too
One that caught my eye was a clowder, for cats. It originates from Clodder, used in the late 18th century to describe a clotted mess. There's also some more collective nouns for cats like cluster, clutter, destruction, dout, glaring, nuisance, and pounce.
One of the most fun episodes you've done. Bravo.
Three members of a university English Literature faculty [a faculty of professors?] were walking around the campus, when a trio of young women dressed as if they were advertising their illicit "services" passed by in the opposite direction across the street.
The Shakespearean scholar exclaimed, "Zounds! A flourish of strumpets!"
The Victorian specialist corrected him, "No, a chapter of trollops."
The youngest man, not yet specializing in a specific era, commented, "Just an anthology of pros."
Are you ok steven? Do you want a glass of water?
@@stevenutter3614 hint: "pros" is a homophobe of "prose"
@@MarcillaSmith Don't be so homophobic.
Dating back to the Italian "Groupon".
Wow! That was fun! I learned something (collective) today! Just for that, I'll pre-order the book!
Great job Patrick. Keep up the good work.
One of my favorite collective names is a pass of asses.
Shouldn't it be a "Kardashian of asses?"
A shrewd ness of humans
I love Frasier. 😆 Such a funny show. Anyway, this was really cool! Keep it up!
Oh, did you know a group of fennec foxes is called a tangle? Adorable!
A cuddle of kittens and A cloud of clouded leopards are two of my favorites!!!!
Human is a strange species of the world. It can call the other species, but can't call itself :-0
That's because other species cant complain about what we call them
One of your best videos mate, keep it up!
Oh, DO talk about animal collective nouns all day, it's just so fascinating
An infestation of humans
*kukur reminds me of Dutch "koker", meaning cylindrical container.
I suppose dogs contain stuff too
Best Name Explain yet👍
Throng. That's my favourite. It's the one I pull out to use instead of 'group'. But while it is generally connoting of people it also connotes a sizable group and a dense one too.
flocc of sheepp
flock - is the spelling I was taught
@@andycooper6085 nah its flocc
Your Italian is perfect btw
Jk, but its better than most
I love how you say "hover".
25 or 30 years ago, I had a T-shirt from Canadian brand Beaver Canoe that had a whole long list of animal collective nouns. Having been a language nerd since I was a kid, I loved that shirt. Favourites:
• A _clowder/glaring/pounce_ of *cats*
• A _destruction_ of *feral cats*
• A _coalition_ of *cheetahs*
• A _leash/skulk_ of *foxes*
• A _litter/kindle_ of *kittens*
• A _pride/sawt_ of *lions*
• A _streak/ambush_ of *tigers*
We are all indian facebook guys. Ik its long. But it works
A jhund/groh/jumgatha/bheerd of people
We live... in a SOCIETY
GROUP is the definitive term. It covers any quantity, proximity, location, or affiliation that humans can distinguish or delineate as separate from those who are not members of that group.
Frank Muir once suggested the collective noun, a quiver of bridegrooms, on the radio program, My Word.
clan
A fam
This makes me think of how in Chinese every noun has a “measure word” or essentially grouping term associated with it (many nouns share the same measure word). Though if you don’t know the measure word, you can usually get away with just saying 个, which is the most commonly used one.
Agree with you on the Frasier thing...! To think that otherwise intelligent people would wish to become something as ridiculously named as "The Cork Master" just to gain ultimate superiority in an exclusive wine club!
Collective nouns in Japanese are infuriating
RadioPlastic
Those aren’t collective nouns.
no, Counting Particles… but yes, many, and hard to remember.
fortunately, most people are kind.
@@thedreadtyger Do not worry. I still count my rabbits with -hiki/piki/biki (匹), not -wa (羽)...
A bunch
6:08 I remember that one. I didn’t realize he made it up!
an army of people? army is sometimes used to refer to large groups of people rather than just exclusively meaning a group of soldiers, but there does tend to be a tinge of implied militancy
A society of humans
Ahem, Humanity?
A humanity of humans?
@@ianmacfarlane1241 *snaps finger* yes
My favorite collective nouns have to be:
A Prickle of Porcupines
A Glaring or Clouder of Cats
and a Business of Ferrets
a group of two introverts is called "An Awkward"
and a group of three or more Introverts is called "An Angst"
A group of humans is called a “mistake”
Shouldn't that refer to orphans?
'Us'
Loved it!
I'm fond of "Plethora" - seems to be used with knowledge and ideas and like words the most
Its *peoplekind*
no
In Spanish collective nouns are pretty straightforward unlike in English. In Spanish you can actually use the collective nouns by themselves and it's understood, whereas in English you can't use them like that because it requires specificity, which is why you can't use murder to refer to crows unless you say "murder of crows", otherwise it just means actual murder. In Spanish you simply say the collective noun and you're done.
"An *angry mob* of humans" seems to be the go-to in movies?
My favorite is ‘A Thunder of Dragons’ b/c when a group flies by it sounds like a thunder clap. It also originated in a fantasy book (though I can’t remember which one) and has been used ever since.
I think it's from the Inheritance books? (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr)
"A yoke of oxen is the collective noun for oxen"
a yoke of oxen of oxen
A collection of songs, known as an album happened in the days of 78 rpm records. There were only two songs on each record, and to have a collection of them they came in a book with each in its own sleeve. You could flip through it like pages of a book to decide which one you wanted to listen to. Thus an album.
(answering before watching the video) depending on size or various factors, it can be:
tribe
clan
Man (with majuscule m)
That artist part , was that a SpongeBob reference .
Cause Squidward injured his face and it looked exactly like that painting 😂
My favorite is a “gaggle of penguins”
My fave is a Business of Ferrets. Just as a FYI, the band Counting Crows has a song called A Murder of One.
Clearly the best thing you can do with this is "The group of birds was a conspiracy over murder"
I once played in a chamber orchestra where all four of the viola players (myself included) were stung by wasps when someone stepped on a nest. Thereafter we referred to violas collectively as "a swarm of violas." (None of the players of other instruments were stung. Those wasps had it out for us violists!)
A group of humans is a group, just like a baby human is a baby.
My absolute favorite is Grumble of pugs. Not only because pugs are silly little things in and of themselves, so several of them is an endearing mental image. But the name itself sounds almost onomatopoetic. I get a mental image of a ton of pugs making a grumbling sound, whatever that means.
You asked whether "quiver" is its own collective noun. I doubt it is - but more generally, the question is whether there are any nouns that are their own collective nouns... It seems to fit to objects that are inherently fractal: A branch of branches, a coast line of coast lines, a Koch curve of Koch curves, a Cantor set of Cantor sets...
A blessing of Unicorns is my personal favorite.
A kaleidoscope of butterflies is one of my favorites
i had a psychiatrist, a former russian gymnast that practiced acupuncture and taught yoga. he said yoga is like a yoke between mind and body. i find it unlikely these words are related etymologically despite their similar sounds, but are these meanings related in whatever language yoga comes from?
James Lipton's "An Exaltation of Larks" is also a resource on this topic. (in case it hasn't already been mentioned)
I like a gaggle of geese, an unkindness of ravens, a pitying of turtle doves, a consortium of crabs, and a pandemonium of parrots
My favourite collective noun has always been the one used for flamingos; a flamboyance!
Society, community, group, village, town, city, crowd, nation, union, commonwealth, kin, guild, association - are just a few that come to mind
One thought I had for a collection of people is A Collective. It would come from Star Trek and specifically the Borg Collective but it sounds good to me to be a general term.
This says a lot about *society*