Friday, September 02, 2011

Just when we thought some of our MPs were behaving like juveniles

when they start calling each other names in Parliament, the collective noun for owls is called a parliament of owls! Compare this with a congress of baboons and some of us might think there was a mistake somewhere! The following information is not going to be set in an English exam, but maybe in a quiz competition:

The English language has some wonderfully anthropomorphic collective nouns for the various groups of animals.

We are all familiar with a Herd of cows, a Flock of chickens, a School of fish and a Gaggle of geese.

However, less widely known is a Pride of lions, a Murder of crows (as well as their cousins the rooks and ravens), an Exaltation of larks and, presumably because they look so wise, a Parliament of owls.

Now consider a group of Baboons. They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least intelligent of all primates. And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons? Believe it or not ... A Congress!

I guess that pretty much explains the things that come out of Washington!

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