I’m trying to rationlize a false memory(?) Apparently a group of cats is actually a Clowder. Nowhere else on the internet calls it a Whisper?
I swear I was taught this the same day I learned ‘a school of fish’ and ‘a murder of crows.’ I remembered it all these years because I’d always think ‘whispuuurrrr’ in my head.
Help me out of my denial. 😭
Yeah, language can be very fun. That’s why I’m saying those terms are fun novelties, like a Lemmy username, not really useful in any practical sense.
It was a popular thing in the 14th and 15th centuries to compile these lists of collective nouns for animals - pretty much made up from whole cloth, and definitely as a novelty. Many of them come from the Book of St. Albans.
I dunno, I’d say they’re as useful as any other terms.
I think language having the ability to say things in various ways is very practical. if you try to read a book written by someone who only says things in one way all the time, it’s probably going to be a dull book.