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Monday, January 9, 2012

Monday Musings

I just finished listening to the most wonderful book - and a children's book, to boot.  Any book (or any thing, come to think about it) that Julie at World of Julie raves about always causes me to head in it's direction.  I decided to get the book on CDs, to help medicate me during my endless commute.  Honestly, it was so riveting that I ended up on a few occasions bringing it inside to play on my home CD player! 

Part of the cast of characters is an "unkindness" of ravens.  That stopped me in my tracks.  And it had me heading for the encyclopedia.  Some group names were mind-boggling:  a "clowder" of kittens?  Maybe in China, but shouldn't that be a "cuddle" of kittens?  A "gulp" of cormorants?  Maybe that's what you'd do if a whole "cloud" of them (think "The Birds") flew at you... And some were so darn appropriate: a "busyness" of ferrets.  I also found that, apparently, some poor creatures hadn't even been considered in a group.  That is just WRONG.  So, in the name of all things equal, I give you:

A Hill of Anteaters
A Bundle of Aardvarks
A Fleet of Armadillos
A Flush of Falcons
A Mao-tain of Giant Pandas
A Gargle of Guanacos
An Ick of Iguanas 
A Lotto Lobsters (sorry, couldn't help myself!)
A Kerfuffle of Newts
A Train of Rails

Our family loved words.  We played word games on our endless car trips - the usual "I Spy" games with odd spins.  "I spy something that should go on a sammich"; or "I spy the stinky feet of someone with a name starting with C".  On one unfortunate occasion, my youngest sister, who was quite smitten with pigs, was sitting next to my paternal grandmother who, good-naturedly, decided to get in on the fun.  "Oh, look," she said.  "I spy pigs!"  She was getting a little dotty by that time and, actually, there were no pigs.  C punched her in the arm and was inconsolable.  Would that have been a Phantasm of Pigs???

7 comments:

Sylvia said...

"Oh look there is a herd of pink elephants" is one way I used to get Julie's and now her offspring's attention while riding in the car. It works every time.

Jenyfer Matthews said...

It was great taking drives in the United Arab Emirates with the children when they were really small - to hear the excited cry of "Camels!" as we passed them "grazing" in the desert was such fun :)

What would you call them? A clatch of camels?

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

Ha, its a 'murder of crows' but an 'unkindness of ravens'? I guess ravens feel they are far less violent than their cousins the crows. Snobby ravens.

Mama Pea said...

Isn't it "a gaggle of geese?" Always thought that was so appropriate as what do a bunch of geese do but . . . gaggle, honk-honk, hissssss, gaggle, gaggle?

Candy C. said...

A "clowder" of kittens?!? I agree, just not right!!

Susan said...

Sylvia - A herd of pink elephants?? I guess that would get everybody's attention. Do they punch you when they find out you're lying???

Jenyfer - Ooh, I would love to see a camel! I have to settle for a llama, though. And he's awful cute.

Jane - Snobby ravens, indeed! When my local flock of murders start squawking a way very early in the morning, the name sounds very appropriate.

Mama Pea - Fits them like a glove, doesn't it?

Candy - Clowder is such a odd word. It's downright weird - especially applied to kittens.

Julie Falatko said...

Susan, I'm glad you picked up on the fact that it was always a great, great childhood disappointment when I always "just missed" the herd of pink elephants.

And glad you liked Peter Nimble!