I see my mind as a tapestry woven through with memories, dreams and thoughts.

Sunday 17 April 2011

Sunday Snippet



I dedicate today's post to Steven, because it was his comment on my Friday post that prompted this one.



Since I had to learn them at school, Collective Nouns have interested me; some are obviously named, but others leave me wondering 'Where did this originate?' 'Why was this word chosen to describe the collective?'

Since Steven commented on my 'herd of cats' .... and they are indeed a herd as they gallop through the house at speed, their paws thrumming on the tiles, I have concentrated on the collectives for cats.

Here they are:
a clowder of cats
a clutter of cats
a nuisance of cats
a dout of cats
a glaring of cats
a pounce of cats

and to kittens:

a kindle of kittens
a litter of kittens

and to wild cats;

a destruction of cats

To end the post, as most if not all of us are storytellers;

a storytelling of crows


Congratulations go to Teresa for her 'clowder'! .... which is also what I learned at school.

Enjoy Sunday!

Note: Jennifer, top left, was our oldest cat ever (22) and Pudding, top right, just loved to be loved.

8 comments:

K said...

This is an informative, but also lovely 'Sunday Snippet'.I didn't know that there were so many words to describe a collection of cats!

The English Language has so many diverse descriptions for the world around us.

Great post.

Elizabeth said...

Cats are very dear to my heart!
Yours are splendid and beautiful.
When we lived in Morocco we had a lovely cat who moved in --and pretty soon had gloriously pretty kittens.
We used to sit and watch them -- much better than the TV we didn't have!

steven said...

aguja that's funny! every so often i come across the words that are actually ascribed to gatherings of living things and i love to unpack their origin. each that you have chosen for your little herd of cats has such significance. steven

aguja said...

Thank you cat people! Let's see where 'clowder' comes from ... and 'dout'

Olga said...

I have one cat, and he`s a handful. I just wonder how you have the energy to deal with all these furry individuals and accommodate their personalities.

aguja said...

Well, we live on the side of a hill, so there is plenty of room and the garden is interesting to explore. Two sets of neighbours have lots of cats ... so it is a sort of cat commune!
I chat to them all ... a lot - and some of them chat back, especially Rupert.

Scarlet said...

what a fun post~

Love the play of words though cats are not exactly my fav pet

Jane Doe said...

I am so behind. I too have a 'thing' for collective nouns and have been collecting these little gems for years. My list just keeps growing. Another crow collective...a murder of crows, how Alfred Hitchcock.