Everything Everywhere Daily – “Names of Animal Groups”

Host: Gary Arndt
Date: September 3, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

In this episode, Gary Arndt explores the oddities and origins behind the English language's unique collective nouns for animal groups. He unpacks why so many animals have distinctive and sometimes bizarre names for their groupings, tracing the etymology and cultural history of these terms, and ultimately proposing some new, tongue-in-cheek collective nouns for people in the modern world.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Diversity of Animal Group Names in English

• English doesn't simply use "group" or "bunch" for animals; instead, nearly every species seems to have a special collective noun.
• Familiar examples:
  • A pride of lions
  • A pack of wolves
  • A gaggle of geese
  • A murder of crows
  • A flock of seagulls (and an aside referencing the ‘80s band)
    • [05:00] "The ones you're probably familiar with include a pride of lions, a pack of wolves, a gaggle of geese, a pod of whales, a murder of crows, and a brood of chickens. And of course, the name that was very popular in the 1980s, a flock of seagulls."

Birds: The Deepest Bench of Collective Nouns

• Birds have a tremendous variety of group names, well beyond just “flock.”
  • [06:20] Gary lists dozens of terms, such as:
    • A convocation of eagles
    • A parliament of owls
    • An exaltation of larks
    • An ostentation of peacocks
    • A murmuration of starlings
    • A gaggle of geese (on land) vs. a skein (in flight)
    • A rafter of turkeys
  • “Birds have an enormous number of words when you'd think that just the word flock would suffice for everything.” [05:30]

Mammals, Reptiles, Fish, and Insects

• Mammals are not far behind, with collective nouns like:
  • Leap of leopards
  • Sleuth of bears
  • Mob of kangaroos
  • Embarrassment of pandas
  • Clowder of cats, kindle of kittens
  • Barrel of monkeys
• Fewer unique terms for reptiles & amphibians:
  • Knot of toads, pit of snakes, bale of turtles, creep of tortoises
• Fish: “school” is common, but also: hover of trout, shoal of bass, run of salmon
• Insects/Arachnids: colony of ants, plague of locusts, flutter of butterflies
  • “The list of words that I just provided is far from exhaustive.” [09:25]

Multiple Names for the Same Group

• Many animals have more than one collective noun.
  • Example: peacocks can be an ostentation, a pride, or a muster
  • Horses: “can be in a herd, but they can also be called a stud, a team, a harris or a string.” [10:30]

Why Does English Have So Many Animal Group Names?

• Other languages often use generic terms.
• The English tradition traces back to 15th century England and is rooted in aristocratic hunting culture.
  • Hunting was exclusive to the nobility and became highly ritualized.
  • Specialized vocabulary became a marker of education and social class.
  • “Elites do in every society is adopt language that separates them from the common rabble.” [12:05]

The Book of St Albans: The Source of Animal Group Names

• Most terms originate from the 1486 publication, The Book of St Albans:
  • Compendium for English aristocrats, covering hunting, hawking, heraldry.
  • Offered witty and satirical collective nouns for animals and professions.
  • “So most of the crazy words that we have for groups of animals can actually be traced back to this single book, published in 1486.” [15:40]
  • Original term used: “terms of venery” (venery = hunting).

Collective Nouns for People

• The Book of St Albans also included group terms for professions (e.g., “a state of princes,” “a drunkenness of cobblers,” “a sentence of judges”).
• Many terms faded for centuries, but some were revived in the 19th century.
  • “Then, in the 19th century, for reasons we're not totally sure, there was a resurgence in these collective animal nouns.” [17:05]

Invention of New Collective Nouns for the Modern Age

• Gary invents and proposes new collective nouns for contemporary groups:
  • A lag of network administrators
  • A download of podcasters
  • A couch of gamers
  • An annoyance of influencers
  • A binge of Netflix viewers
  • An eye roll of smartphone users
  • A thread of commenters
  • A curiosity of Everything Everywhere Daily listeners
  • “If a single book, likely written by a single author, can create so many of these words that we use today, why can't someone just do that right now?” [19:20]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Birds have an enormous number of words when you'd think that just the word flock would suffice for everything.”
  — Gary Arndt, [05:30]

• “Elites do in every society is adopt language that separates them from the common rabble. Consider how in My Fair Lady Eliza Doolittle initially struggled to fit into upper class society due to her speech.”
  — Gary Arndt, [12:05]

• “So most of the crazy words that we have for groups of animals can actually be traced back to this single book, published in 1486.”
  — Gary Arndt, [15:40]

• “If a single book, likely written by a single author, can create so many of these words that we use today, why can't someone just do that right now?”
  — Gary Arndt, [19:20]

Important Timestamps & Segments

• [00:40] – Introduction to collective nouns for animal groups
• [05:00] – List of familiar and bizarre bird group names
• [07:30] – Mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects
• [10:30] – Explanation of multiple names for the same animal group
• [12:00] – Social class origins: why these terms exist
• [14:30] – The Book of St Albans and its impact
• [17:00] – Resurgence and spread of terms in modern English
• [19:00] – Collective nouns for people—then and now
• [20:00+] – Gary’s newly minted collective nouns for today’s world

Summary Takeaways

• English has a vast array of animal group names, mainly due to a medieval English tradition tied to hunting and aristocratic culture, intended to signal status and education.
• The bulk of these names derive from the 15th-century “Book of St Albans” as both practical terminology and witty social wordplay.
• Collective nouns have been periodically forgotten and revived, and Gary playfully extends the tradition by inventing 21st-century group names for people.
• The episode is both an entertaining romp through language’s quirks and a reminder that vocabulary, like culture, is always evolving.