this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2024
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[–] seth@lemmy.world 38 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Is this real? I always heard "clowder."

[–] ZeroCool@slrpnk.net 32 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Yes, it’s real. The post was made today on the official Merriam-Webster instagram account. Both terms are used. Destruction is just more modern.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/a-drudge-of-lexicographers-presents-collective-nouns

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] Rodeo@lemmy.ca 4 points 8 months ago

"more modern" = people are saying it on reddit

[–] Okami_No_Rei@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

That is a load-bearing "(no explanation necessary)".

I'd love to see an explanation. How did we get from 'clowder' to 'destruction'? Gaining a syllable and losing alliteration is not a typical linguistic evolution. Who's actually using this term?

The closest I've seen actual examples of is a tongue-in-cheek 'catastrophe of cats', and that never went mainstream as far as I'm aware.

[–] Okami_No_Rei@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Ditto. Clowder of cats is the term I'm familiar with.

"Destruction" of cats is new to me. I don't think I like it. Doesn't roll off the tongue well.

[–] ReCursing@kbin.social 22 points 8 months ago

a Wunch of Bankers

[–] Shurimal@kbin.social 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)
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[–] LordOfLocksley@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

A Congress of baboons....

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

Some of the other are great too btw. A smack of jellyfish in particular seems like it's based on a single traumatic but apparently common experience 😂

[–] Jerb322@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Where would one see an ambush of tigers other than a zoo or Circus?

[–] fckreddit@lemmy.ml 5 points 8 months ago
[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 5 points 8 months ago

Okay, if that list doesn't have a business of otters, it's incomplete and wrong on so many levels.

[–] Ultraviolet@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

A conspiracy of lemurs has always been my favorite.

[–] platypus_plumba@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If only there was an abstract word that could describe the union of many individuals when grouped together, regardless of their type of individual.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Where's the fun in that?

[–] Everythingispenguins@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Wait how many do you need to have to make it a destruction? I live with five, should I be worried?

Also why are jellyfish doing smack? Don't they know that is bad for them? Though that does explain their slow nature.