Monday, November 12, 2007

Join the collective...

I think I might have mentioned this before, but it's post or die, so I'm going to mention it again.

I love collective nouns. I think I was a little pre-goth when I found out that a bunch of crows is called a "murder" and a group of ravens is called an "unkindness." After that is was all down hill, and I've been a might bit obsessive about it ever since.

I think it was the great McPhee who first started referring to a group of knitters as "a whack." I'm not sure why that's so appropriate, but it sure seems like the right word. We all know that a bunch of yarn is referred to as a stash, and I always think that spinners come in "whirls." Is there a collective noun for a bunch of knitting needles?

Since I have been steeped in babies lately...yes absolutely marinated in them, I give you "Ragnar's totally incomplete list of collective baby nouns."

A squall of infants.
A clutch of midwives.
or perhaps a pool of midwives would be better.
An insurmountable of laundry (Manimal said the unthinkable about the laundry yesterday, he said "I think we're almost caught up...there has been exactly 15 minutes since the baby was born when there was no laundry waiting to be done.)
A leak of diapers.
An obstacle of toys (will someone please clean up the obstacle in the living room?)

Ragnar...straws, grasp them firmly.

2 comments:

Mouse said...

Wouldn't spinners actually come in "Whorls" instead? hee hee hee. Dude.. I love Yarn Harlot's use of the word "whack"- she used it one Christmas in the form of "a whack of farty little elves" and it just stuck with me as one of the funniest phrases ever.
(and I love words too.. the weirder the better)

Anonymous said...

This is so funny! I have an "insurmountable" of laundry here too and have had for seven whole years now!

Of course I also have obstacles, leaks and squalls but no spinners, whacks or whirls.

Thanks for the laugh!

By the way, I like your Mom's method of choosing books. I too am partial to great illustrations. In fact if I don't like the illustrations, I have a hard time seeing past that perceived flaw, no matter how great the book. I hope that's my only prejudice in life...