There are a number of words and phrases in English language that make you think, “What on Earth does that even mean?” Collective nouns offer many such bizarre words that are really funny to hear. Let’s take a look at some of these collective nouns give below 😂👇🏾

1.

A ‘school’ is not just a place where you go to get knowledge, but it is also a term used to refer to a large group of fish. You just got schooled!

• The shark had been chasing a school of fish.

2.

While the word ‘parliament’ gives you a satisfactory image of leaders sitting around and discussing policies, however, as a collective noun, it also refers to the gathering of owls. I think you know what we’re implying! 😜

• A parliament of owls dwells deep in the dense forest.

3.

Botanists use ‘stand’ to refer to a group, grove or small forest of trees that belong to the same species. And you thought it was all about maintaining an upright position?

• That stand of plants has been drying away for want of rain.

4.

Imagine a group of grumpy and caffeine-deprived ferrets wearing nothing but a tie, attending a business meeting. Well, now we know not to anger a ferret. They mean business! We could get fired!

• A business of ferrets has been living near my house for more than a year.

5.

‘An impatience of wives’ is not biased at all! We think this noun has something to do with how wives in the Middle Ages used to wait around “patiently” for their husbands to come home after a hard day’s work. Waiting does get tiring, okay? Don’t blame them for complaining!

• An impatience of wives has decided the next read for their Book Club: How Not to Hate Your Husband.

6.

‘Rhumba’ is a collective noun for rattlesnakes or rattlers. There’s a very interesting reason behind giving a funny name to such a venomous reptile. 👉🏿 When two male rattlesnakes fight for dominance of a female, there’s a lot of slow, deliberate, and sharp movements that closely resemble the American Rhumba dance.

• A crew of courageous hunters relocated a rhumba of rattlers.

7.

Honestly, we’re not trying to scare you away, but you need to be careful when you see too many crows at one place; they could mean ‘murder’. Literally! They’re collectively called ‘a murder of crows’ for a reason, you know?

• Some students had been going home for the weekend when a murder of crows smashed into their bus.

8.

Do you know how a cat looks at you in a hostile, fierce and angry manner, like planning to strangle you in your sleep? Well that is exactly what ‘glaring’ means. Now you know why a group of cats is called that!

• A glaring of cats has been looking at me strangely for days now.

9.

This one’s for all the husbands out there who are still cackling about ‘impatience of wives’. ‘An unhappiness of husbands’ does not sound sad at all, right? The term does originate around the same time because the husbands grew tired of the wives’ complaints. So all there was left to do was – all husbands come together and be collectively sad.

• An unhappiness of husbands meets every week to talk about everything except their wives.

10.

‘Flamboyance’ is the tendency to attract attention because of one’s confidence and stylishness. What an appropriate term to call a group of flamingos! It’s also not surprising that ‘flamboyance’ sounds so much like Beyonce!

• A flamboyance of flamingos usually consists of thousands of flamingos that flock together and feed on shrimp.

Now, watch this video to learn more about Collective Nouns 👇🏾

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