A Lamentation of Swans: in praise of collective nouns

A Lamentation of Swans: in praise of Collective Nouns (see below)

Thank you for coming to my blog.

Before I write about this blog's main topic, I'd like to tell you some exciting news.

My new memoir, Not Exactly As Planned, is now available for sale from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle. To order please click here

You'll be glad you did!

 Not Exactly as Planned is a captivating, deeply moving account of adoption and the unexpected challenges of raising a child with fetal alcohol syndrome. Rosenbaum writes about family, community and the ability to rise above a tragic diagnosis with insight and clarity, while weaving in the everyday aspects of life: birdwatching, bar mitzvahs, saving the Toronto Islands, the collision of 60s idealism with the real world,and family secrets. With compassion and humour, she tells a story that is achingly unique yet universal to all parents

One reviewer said: "I  loved it. I read it in three sittings. It was so heartfelt and well-written, clearly by an amazing person who shared her life unsparingly, with honesty and zest. Kudos to her family for allowing Linda Rosenblum to lay bare their personal journey."


Now...my blog.... Enjoy!






Over 100,000 Tundra swans arrived at Long Point Bay in Norfolk, Ontario last week, after crossing Lake Erie during their spring migration from North Carolina and Chesapeake Bay in the U.S. After refueling, they’ll slowly make their way to nest in the Arctic Circle.

It’s an awe-inspiring sight to see thousands of these swans in flight overhead. I once had the opportunity to see such mass arrival, over 30 years ago, when I volunteered to band birds at the Long Point Bird Observatory in the area.  I will never forget the swans' majesty (nor deafening honk).

Thinking of  swans “en groupe,”  (or collective mass), my thoughts returned to the subject of yesterday’s blog: the beauty of the English language, and my desire to share it in its many forms. How does a collective mass of swans relate to any of this?  Follow me.

I started wondering what the name of the collective noun was to describe a group of swans. I knew it was a herd of elephants, team of horses,  clutch of chickens and  pod of whales. But what would I call a bunch of swans? 

A little research revealed the answer. A Lamentation (of course)! 

You see, I’ve returned, as promised, to the richness in  our language. What could be more beautiful to say, picture or see than a Lamentation of Swans. Parliament of Owls, perhaps?

One of the craziest oddities of the English language is that there are so many different collective nouns that all mean "group" but which are specific to what particular thing there is a group of: a herd of elephants, a crowd of people, a box of crayons, a pad of paper, etc.

There is great diversity in the collective nouns associated with animals, from a sleuth of bears to a murder of crows. I so enjoy these terms, I couldn’t resist making what I hope will be a very enjoyable list, below, of the correct terms to describe some  animal groups. Some terms you’ll know (swarm of bees, pack of mules), others you’ll simply wonder ‘how and why did anyone come up with a name like ' chine' to describe a  group of them darn crazy polecats?'

I’m not sure who made up the terms, but whoever did deserves a medal. Some are beautiful (exhaltation of larks!), some fun, and all, clever. The choice of group name doesn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason in regards to the animal it describes. There may be a wonderful story behind each, though, so I will do a bit of further research, Should I find anything of interest, I’ll share.

In the meantime, I’ll assume that someone with a real love of English, a bit of mischief in his or her soul, and great vocabulary came up with the idea for a husk of hares, convocation of eagles, clan of hyenas and  murder of crows.

The collective nouns below have been selected. Please excuse my formatting. I'm giving up in my quest for getting the lines straight.

For a full list of the collective nouns, click here  Excuse the poor set-up below!)

colony            of            ants

shrewdness   of            apes

congress        of            baboons

sleuth            of            bears

lodge             of            beavers

hive              of             bees

swarm          of            bees

flock             of            birds

sounder       of            boar

brace            of            bucks

swarm          of            butterflies

wake            of             buzzards

drove           of             cattle

clutch           of            chicks

cartload       of            chimpanzees

bed               of            clams

quiver          of            cobras

cover            of            coots

band            of            coyotes

congregation of        crocodiles

murder        of           crows

herd             of            deer

litter            of            dogs (puppies)

pod              of            dolphins

aerie            of            eagles

herd            of            elk

mob            of            emus

business    of            ferrets

school        of            fish

leash          of            foxes

army          of            frogs

gaggle        of           geese

colony       of            gulls

prickle      of            hedgehogs

brood        of            hens

team         of            horses

cry            of            hounds

charm      of            hummingbirds

scold        of            jays

smack      of           jellyfish

deceit       of           lapwings

exaltation of          larks

leap         of            leopards

pride       of            lions

lounge    of            lizards

plague    of            locusts

sord        of            mallards

company of          moles

pack        of           mules

parliament of       owls

bed         of            oysters

company of          parrots

covey      of            partridges

flock        of            pigeons

string      of            ponies

pod         of            porpoises

pack       of            rats

rhumba of           rattlesnakes

storytelling  of    ravens

crash    of            rhinocerouses

run       of             salmon

harem  of            seals

shiver   of            shark

flock     of           sheep

chine   of            polecats

string  of            ponies

passel  of           possum

warren of          rabbits

nursery of         raccoons

rhumba of        rattlesnakes

crash of             rhinocerouses

murmuration of  starlings

pod       of         whales

pack     of         wolves

zeal       of        zebras

Try dropping a few of these fabulous terms casually into conversation one day, as in:  “I heard that a rumba of rattlesnakes was making it difficult to hike in the Grand Canyon.”  People will beg for more, so it’s probably good to memorize ten of your favourite nouns to keep your audience happy.

My favourites? Passel of possum; storytelling of ravens; exhaltation of larks; lounge of lizards and deceit of lapwings.  

What are yours? 

Speaking Well, Writing Good

I really do care about the English language and its future. This probably comes as a shock to my family and friends, many of whom think I do a particularly expert job of mangling it.

They may be right. I do, in fact, remember falling asleep in my public school grammar glasses and had no idea how to do the parsing thing teachers were so keen on.

That’s probably why I still don’t know, no matter how many times I’m taught, when to use ‘which’ and when to use ‘that.’ I’m forever putting quotation marks before a period. When I write long sentences, my subject and verbs often don’t match (I’m told), and I’ve never been particularlygood knowing whether my friend and me went to the corner store or whether it was I (who picked up the jug of milk).

Of course there are the debatable errors I make, as when asked “How are you today, Linda?” and I respond cheerfully with  “Good!” I think the “Well!” brigade may be losing this battle, but only time will tell.

My pronunciation and American accent don’t bode all that well here in Canada, either. It took a dear friend to point out that I left out the ‘d’s in  the words shouldn’t, wouldn’t and couldn’t, making them only one syllable. Shount, wount and count.  “It makes you sound dumb,” she said. I immediately reinserted the d’s  which automatically added another syllable.

I understood what my friend meant since I too have my own prejudices. When people mix up there, they’re and their, your and your’re, and it’s and its, I think they’re, well…not smart. 

My bungling of the language isn’t anything I’m particularly proud of, though I may have been in the past. But only slightly. Over 25 years ago I was working as a researcher on a current affairs television show. The producer was pleased with my work and thought I might make a good on-air host. She was interested in grooming me for the job. “But you’ve got to get rid of that American accent. And a brush up on your grammar wouldn’t hurt either.”

I took no umbrage about the grammar. She was right. It needed fixing. But I did get my back up about the accent. The issue of ‘accent reduction’ or ‘accent removal’ is a prickly one.

Where a person comes from is often a strong part of their identity (here’s an example of my subject and verb not matching, I’m afraid). Their accent is a reflection of that. Many people want to get rid of both the identity and accent the second they step on foreign soil, They’re seriously committed to leaving the past behind. I’m sure they have good cause.

Other people sport their accents with pride, or at least, acceptance. In my case, even though I had parted ways with my home country on many fronts, particularly political, I knew I was a product of my upbringing. I was American. Why pretend otherwise. I figured time would subdue my accent. It didn’t feel right trying to force it. It wouldn’t be me.

Okay, so I’m not a paragon of grammatical virtue, and accept the fact that my spoken language may be considered a bit unrefined. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know beautiful, expressive language when I see or read it.

I’m generally seeing less and less of the good stuff in day-to-day conversation and writing, unfortunately. And that’s why I say I really do care about the future of the English language. I’m worried that some of the most evocative and dramatic expressions handed down to us, particularly from the Bible and Shakespeare, may be disappearing.

So, in the wake of our growing use of the quick and expedient in our text messages, tweets and People-magazine-style writing, let us remember the many riches from texts past that still grace today’s language and continue to resonate with us.

I will start with words and expressions from the Bible: my brother’s keeper; salt of the earth; give up the ghost; scapegoats, an eye for an eye; casting your pearls before swine;  writing on the wall; the blind leading the blind; a house divided against itself (used by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysberg Address); dust and ashes; hold your peace; howling wilderness; how are the mighty fallen; out of the mouth of babes; through the skin of my teeth; my cup runneth over; broken heart; stumbling block; from strength to strength; heavy heart; woe is me; lamb to the slaughter; sour grapes; salt of the earth; safe and sound; eat, drink and be merry.

Now on to Shakespeare, who we have to thank for: all that glitters is not gold (Merchant of Venice); strange bedfellows (The Tempest); the naked truth (Love’s Labours Lost); wild-goose chase (Romeo and Juliet); bated breath (The Merchant of Venice); green-eyed monster (Othello); salad days (Antony and Cleopatra); short shrift  (Richard III).

Many of these words and expressions have been so overused that they’ve entered the realm of cliché. But isn’t that remarkable, considering their history and provenance? Talk about universality,  long-lasting at that.

Great orators like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., understood this concept of universality. King also knew the power of language and how to use language as power.

His memorable speech, “I Have a Dream," was delivered August 28, 1963 before more than 200,000 people in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. as part of the March on Washington. (Note to readers: if you go to this link to hear King's speech, you'll also hear civil rights protesters sining "We Shall Overcome."  Highly recommended: a real piece of history).

The speech not only helped to galvanize the already growing civil-rights movement across the country at the time, it also became one of the most influential and inspirational pieces of rhetoric in American history.

The speech is littered with stunning allusion and resonances from the Bible. I’ll print some of them here, but highly urge you to read or listen to Dr. King’s actual speech. It may move you to tears. I first heard it when I was 15 years old. I cried then and still do today. The speech’s beauty and power are truly remarkable.

Now for the Biblical phrases:

“No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

 “But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

 “Every valley shall be exalted, and very mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”

“It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.”

 “… weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

There are also other allusions in King’s speech, in addition to the Biblical ones. For example, “five score years ago” invokes the Gettysburg Address, and “sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent” refers to Shakespeare, Richard III, act I, scene 1.

King knew how to use strong language from other sources to strengthen his own. I’m going to make a serious effort to do the same. Perhaps it will make up for some of my linguistic missteps. 

I’ll let Shakespeare do my plea bargaining:

“The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed- It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.”