Fun_People Archive
8 May
collective nouns

Date: Mon,  8 May 95 17:41:16 PDT
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: collective nouns

[More mail on venereal concerns... -psl]

Forwarded-by: Claude Ginsburg <claude@espresso.rt.cs.boeing.com>
[ From Ron Hammond] [Slightly retold by psl.]

Once upon a time, four English professors who were attending a conference
stood upon the sidewalk outside their hotel.  In the manner of English
professors they were discussing the richness of the English language and
eventually came to the subject of collective nouns -- an exaltation of
larks, a murder of crows, etc.  They observed, under a street light on the
corner, a group of women of, as was formerly said, of 'dubious virtue'.
One of the professors asked the obvious question; "What is the collective
noun for *that* group?"  The suggestions were: a bed, a flourish, a jam, and an anthology.

  A bed of trollops.

  A flourish of strumpets.

  A jam of tarts.

but the unanimous favorite ....

  An anthology of prose.

© 1995 Peter Langston