An exaltation of larks
by James Lipton · first published 1968
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2019–2024first – last mentioned
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A collection of "terms of venery," collective nouns. The origin of some of the terms is explained, and more than 250 of the terms are illustrated with engravings by Dürer and Grandville and others.
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A great book on collective nouns is "An Exaltation of Larks" by James Lipton. It's hilarious and fascinating. https://www.bookdepository.com/Exaltation-Larks-James-Lipton...
on “Why Physicists Tried to Put a Ferret in a Particle Accelerator” ↗…hand, there are a bunch more of them with more recent origin, presumably because amusement with the inherited ones has motivated lovers of words to coin new ones. James Lipton wrote a book entitled An Exaltation of Larks collecting a lot of terms of venery, both ancient and modern. If you are amused by "a murder of crows" and "a parliament of owls" then you'd probably like the book.
on “Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting” ↗Hear hear. You may enjoy “An Exaltation of Larks” by (the late) James Lipton of “Inside the Actor’s Studio”
on “No, It’s Not Actually a Murder of Crows – Okay, technically it is (2015)” ↗…disappointed that the article, despite it's title, never actually tells us how these group names came about. From some reading a while back, it seems that many started to be used after the 1968 book, An Exaltation of Larks, became popular. It was written by the Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton, and includes some terms he made up himself, as far as I can tell (the back cover states " In it you will find more than…
on “A parliament of owls and a murder of crows: How groups of birds got their names” ↗