Speaking collectively

I’m German and I’ve never heard anyone use that for butterflies. The German word is Schmetterling. No idea where this is coming from, so I had to look it up. Apparently “from an East Central German dialect word, equivalent to Schmetten (“cream”) +‎ diminutive -ing, due to an old belief that butterflies eat milk products or, in a more ornamented form, that witches transform themselves into butterflies in order to steal such products.” Haha, yeah, that sounds just like something straight out of German fables and fairy tales.

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Oh, I’ve heard that once or twice used to describe sea otters or man-o-wars – which also do float, I suppose.

It’s interesting, close to what “butterfly” is then, right? Here their name has the same root as “woman”, as it was believed passed female souls were in butterflies and moths, so they came to the light of houses as they wanted to visit relatives.

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I initially read their post as “a chowder of cats” and that will be the only collective known I use from now on, mostly on the coast where folks have tons of cats

of course, it’s to be pronounced “chowdah”

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I learned the term “raft” to describe a group of seat otters.

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I feel that collective terms are very useful as a quick way to describe species who routinely exhibit collective behaviour, especially when there is existing confusion with that species’ common name.

Case in point: the Opiliones. Common name: Harvestmen, or Daddy-Long-Legs.

See? That last name is probably the commonest one (at least where I am) but it’s also used for cobweb spiders and even crane flies. But, the Opiliones are the only one that exhibit massing behaviour.

They are found on every continent except Antartica, and they’ve been everywhere for an incredibly long time. They don’t harm us, they are terrific scavengers and I think, they deserve some real long-neglected recognition.

Here’s an article from six years ago from someone who thought the same:
https://arthropodecology.com/2016/03/01/what-do-you-call-a-congregation-of-opiliones-poll/

And the results of that poll? Here.

I think it’s a great name!

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My spoken German comes from Switzerland and I have heard my MIL use it. Berner Oberland.

I love harvestmen, we have some really cool ones in caves :)

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I’ve heard of a clowder as well; it comes from “clott,” meaning a lump, ball, or mass–the same Old English root as “clot” and “clutter.” According to a few search hits (including Yahoo Sports, for some reason!), it’s a glaring of cats when the cats don’t trust each other. And, adorably, it’s a kindle of cats if the cats are kittens.

Gross of grosbeaks
Asylum of loons

These are from a newspaper article by a local birder I have hanging on my wall, which also used many of the same bird group names listed in the terms of venery already mentioned.

I have to think some of these names were fabricated just for fun.

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Interesting! Danish klods meaning block might well apply to kittens because in Danish we refer to someone who is clumsy as “blocky” (klodset).

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I can see the visual! Ears pinned back and everything.

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Forgive me for following up on a sub-topic, and worse: off-topic comment that flowed away already, but it irks me:

“Bach”, the composer (who lived much of his life in Great Britain but was German), and also a German word for “stream” or “creek”, is pronounced thus:

IPA notation: [bax]

You can hear spoken examples at https://www.dict.cc/?s=Bach

So, “Forgive me, I’m German.” ;-)

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but we anglicise him, sorry. We used to live next to the Stadtbach in Aarau - in that word I can say it as it should be.

They began to rehab the stream from a concrete canal … but can’t find it on the iNat map now.

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Easy. Can of tuna, can opener.

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No thanks, that smells, of fish. Our cats don’t do fish.

My experience is that cats forget how to walk and start tripping over themselves and their siblings while meowing to let you know that you shouldn’t forget that they specifically need the food rather than their siblings.

Real life Crazy Cat Lady! - YouTube

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