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Mike Taylor 🦕
@mike@sauropods.win  ·  activity timestamp 8 hours ago

Today I learned that all those pointless collective nouns (a murder of crows, a parliament of owls, a pride of lions), which are only ever used in pub quizzes, were made up by one woman 500 years ago.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2024/01/04/brian-wildsmith-birds-company-terms/

#TIL #TodayILearned

The Marginalian

A Parliament of Owls and a Murder of Crows: How Groups of Birds Got Their Names, with Wondrous Vintage Illustrations by Brian Wildsmith

Language is an instrument of great precision and poignancy — our best tool for telling each other what the world is and what we are, for conveying the blueness of blue and the wonder of being…
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