Does anybody actually refer to "a murder of crows"?

[conuly]

OUTSIDE of my friends list, thanks, youse guys aren't exactly a representative sample :)

I mean, seriously, it seems to me like that word is just used when an author can't think of a better way to foreshadow. So-and-so will be walking along, see a group of crows, think or comment that "A group of crows is called a murder" and then five pages later BAM, somebody's dead. Boy, didn't see that coming!

I also don't think that real people notice if they have one or two birds sitting on their rooftop. I don't think they look up at all, unless they need to have bad luck as some sort of plot device.

And the cuckoo? She may be a pretty bird who singeth as she flies. She may even bringeth us good tidings, but I strongly doubt that she really telleth us no lies. Cuckoos live on lies, that's how they raise their young! Or don't, rather.

That duck, though, is definitely somebody's mother. She told me so herself.

Edit: Here we go. Pigeons only get to go in boring words like flight, kit, or passel. Drat. BUT! Pigeons here are really rock doves! And doves get lots of cool words: pitying, prettying, piteousness. That even alliterates: a piteousness of pigeons. *grins* I like it.

Edit again: *laughs* Thrushes are mutations. Never saw a thrush that I know of....

Of course, you know most of these terms are just made up by people on the analogy of pride, school, and (of course) murder.

Comments

[ladyshrew.livejournal.com]

I look up... really, I do!

[yadfothgildloc.livejournal.com]

I do too. And a Conspiracy of Ravens, also.

[conuly]

And an exultation of larks?

[shenya.livejournal.com]

And a parliment of Rooks :)

[kayt-arminta.livejournal.com]

well... kinda hard to comment on this if you aren't on our friends list... but yes, i do look up, and see a murder of crows, and comment on them. then again, i'm a freaky scarey girl who also pays attention to a lot of what goes around her. (i'm a magpie. i notice visual things that most people wouldn't... i get kinda scarey at times when i can remember visual things when others can't remember seeing anything in the first place)

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

SHINY!

[kayt-arminta.livejournal.com]

i used to collect shiney things when i was younger.... i still have a box of sparklies that are totally useless pieces of junk

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

What's the group word for magpies?

*smooch*

[kayt-arminta.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't know lover, YOU are the linguist in this relationship. I'm just a sparklies collector. I'll find your wallet if you loose it, but couldn't tell you why it's called a wallet. that's YOUR job.

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

This may not count as looking up, but last Halloween I was laying on the couch under the skylight, and a whole bunch of crows landed on the roof. They tried to land on the skylight, but they kept sliding off. I knew there were a lot of them since there was a lot of crowing and stuff...

Yep, there's my random story no one cares about. So they're called a murder huh? I'll have to use that in some non-plot device type of way.

[bastardsword.livejournal.com]

The only time I used the term "a murder of crows" was when I looked up and saw, ooh, fifty to a hundred crows on the rooftop opposite us.

-Kimothy

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

OUTSIDE of my friends list, thanks, youse guys aren't exactly a representative sample :)

This, btw, makes me think that the group word for friends should be "a flist" (pron. as writ.).

"Yeah, mom, I'll just be hanging out with a flist of friends..."

[leora.livejournal.com]

I don't tend to identify birds. But I will comment if I notice an adorableness of squirrels.

[rantinan.livejournal.com]

grins.. well some of my IRL friends have been known to use this sort of terminology. But since they are as weird or weirder than me..... i suspect thato nly us oddballs use it

[pehanoie.livejournal.com]

I notice birds on the roof...

I never thought about a murder of crows though. Never knew. I just think "Look, there's some crows. They're cawing again...shit." Crows...caw, a lot. And you don't know what they're saying...

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

We don't have crows or ravens where I live, only Grackles.

EVERYWHERE. Clouds of them! Cra-cra-cra-CRAKCRAKCRAK-craw!

Grackles! They're shiny.

[ladyshrew.livejournal.com]

I look up... really, I do!

[yadfothgildloc.livejournal.com]

I do too. And a Conspiracy of Ravens, also.

[conuly]

And an exultation of larks?

[shenya.livejournal.com]

And a parliment of Rooks :)

[kayt-arminta.livejournal.com]

well... kinda hard to comment on this if you aren't on our friends list... but yes, i do look up, and see a murder of crows, and comment on them. then again, i'm a freaky scarey girl who also pays attention to a lot of what goes around her. (i'm a magpie. i notice visual things that most people wouldn't... i get kinda scarey at times when i can remember visual things when others can't remember seeing anything in the first place)

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

SHINY!

[kayt-arminta.livejournal.com]

i used to collect shiney things when i was younger.... i still have a box of sparklies that are totally useless pieces of junk

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

What's the group word for magpies?

*smooch*

[kayt-arminta.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't know lover, YOU are the linguist in this relationship. I'm just a sparklies collector. I'll find your wallet if you loose it, but couldn't tell you why it's called a wallet. that's YOUR job.

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

This may not count as looking up, but last Halloween I was laying on the couch under the skylight, and a whole bunch of crows landed on the roof. They tried to land on the skylight, but they kept sliding off. I knew there were a lot of them since there was a lot of crowing and stuff...

Yep, there's my random story no one cares about. So they're called a murder huh? I'll have to use that in some non-plot device type of way.

[bastardsword.livejournal.com]

The only time I used the term "a murder of crows" was when I looked up and saw, ooh, fifty to a hundred crows on the rooftop opposite us.

-Kimothy

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

OUTSIDE of my friends list, thanks, youse guys aren't exactly a representative sample :)

This, btw, makes me think that the group word for friends should be "a flist" (pron. as writ.).

"Yeah, mom, I'll just be hanging out with a flist of friends..."

[leora.livejournal.com]

I don't tend to identify birds. But I will comment if I notice an adorableness of squirrels.

[rantinan.livejournal.com]

grins.. well some of my IRL friends have been known to use this sort of terminology. But since they are as weird or weirder than me..... i suspect thato nly us oddballs use it

[pehanoie.livejournal.com]

I notice birds on the roof...

I never thought about a murder of crows though. Never knew. I just think "Look, there's some crows. They're cawing again...shit." Crows...caw, a lot. And you don't know what they're saying...

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

We don't have crows or ravens where I live, only Grackles.

EVERYWHERE. Clouds of them! Cra-cra-cra-CRAKCRAKCRAK-craw!

Grackles! They're shiny.