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Post by philman on Apr 22, 2013 21:46:40 GMT
I think americonedream had it right, a parliament of chickcharnies, since chickcharnies are based upon a species of flightless owl, and parliament is the name for a group of owls. Parliament is one of the words used for rooks. I doubt there's a traditional collective noun for owls since they don't normally appear in groups. Doubt no more then, parliament is used for both. The alternative for owls is a Stare. No idea who originally came up with all these though.
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Post by ctso74 on Apr 22, 2013 22:31:13 GMT
I'm just glad "So very kind!" had an exclamation mark. Otherwise, with frame 2, it would have seemed awfully creepy and foreshadowy.
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crank
New Member
Posts: 30
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Post by crank on Apr 22, 2013 23:16:46 GMT
Parliament is one of the words used for rooks. I doubt there's a traditional collective noun for owls since they don't normally appear in groups. Doubt no more then, parliament is used for both. The alternative for owls is a Stare. No idea who originally came up with all these though. I've also heard the term a "Wisdom of Owls" to refer to a collective of owls.
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Post by Per on Apr 23, 2013 0:45:04 GMT
No idea who originally came up with all these though. The ur-sources appear to have been a poet named John Lydgate and a writer named Juliana Barnes in the 15th century. Lack of recorded use in writing has apparently led some to conclude that many of these terms were never in common use until popularized in the 19th century. The list in the Concise Oxford Dictionary seems to be fairly conservative and doesn't have an entry for owls (or crows for that matter). According to this page on the internet, "parliament" belongs to a group of words that can be applied to many different types of bird, although it's not clear whether this is based on olden sources or meant to reflect modern usage. Interestingly it claims "unkindness of ravens" is obsolete.
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americonedream
Full Member
What are birds? We just don't know!
Posts: 213
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Post by americonedream on Apr 23, 2013 3:20:24 GMT
I think americonedream had it right, a parliament of chickcharnies, since chickcharnies are based upon a species of flightless owl, and parliament is the name for a group of owls. Parliament is one of the words used for rooks. I doubt there's a traditional collective noun for owls since they don't normally appear in groups. I've heard that parliament was the official grouping noun for owls as well as Rooks. I believe they're the only animals with that name. Though I agree, they're not very groupy birds. Let's give Chickcharnies a new grouping noun like a..Fizztizzle of Chickcharnies. It's not a real word but Chickcharnies aren't real animals so it's okay.
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Elm
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by Elm on Apr 23, 2013 15:32:01 GMT
Let's give Chickcharnies a new grouping noun like a..Fizztizzle of Chickcharnies. It's not a real word but Chickcharnies aren't real animals so it's okay. Be careful of what you say or bad luck may befall you!
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Post by mochakimono on Apr 23, 2013 20:40:00 GMT
I came by to say that I had a dream last night that another chickcharney burst out of the woods angrily demanding to know how Andrew came to possess one of their eggs. Because apparently their eggs looked exactly like marbles (and the smaller one didn't recognize it for some reason).
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