A Pomposity of Priests & Pandemonium of Politicians

What does a kettle of kites and hush of librarians have in common? A babble of linguists. 

Yes, June’s Penasium challenge is based on the colourful, creative, and marvellously odd yet brilliantly charming British tradition of collective nouns. A slight departure from our usual folky and historical themes but bear with me – there is method in the madness.

I don’t know about everyone else, but these days it can seem hard to find the time and energy to focus on anything creative. Especially when adult life outside of work appears to revolve around the one daily dilemma of what to have for dinner (and whether the chicken has gone off). Of course, when we have some free time, a little sunshine, and we’ve been organised enough to do a weekly shop, the urge to write/draw/craft hits – but I need somewhere to start. This is where Penasium came from, it’s a place to inspire and encourage a bit of extra-curricular creativity to kickstart that (very important) part of your brain. The problem is, in the busy month we’ve had there’s not been enough time to nurture my own grey matter so I’ve been fighting a killer creative block when it comes to figuring out a theme for June. 

Enter The Book of St Albans, a compilation of treatises on hunting, hawking and heraldry written by Dame Juliana Barnes and published in 1486. 

Now I know what you’re thinking and yes, that does sound rather niche (think Eton boy’s dream bank holiday weekend but medieval) and more than a little dry, but the book also happens to contain an utterly brilliant addendum called “The Compaynys of Beestys and Fowlys” – a list of 164 collective nouns that have remained in common use since medieval Britain. You know a parliament of owls? A murder of crows? A gaggle of geese? Well, this is where they came from! We’re all familiar with the use of collective nouns in nature, but this list demonstrates the medieval penchant for comedy through satirical wordplay… 

An impatience of wives, a fighting of beggars, a sentence of judges, a superfluity of nuns… 

In medieval Britain, collective nouns were called “terms of venery”, “nouns of assembly”, “company nouns”, “gatherations”, and “agminals”. Used originally as a form of hunting terminology, the tradition spread to England from France – The Treatise, written by Walter of Bibbesworth around 1250 is the first source of collective nouns of animals in Europe and the earliest record of animal noises. One chap even wrote the collective noun book on animal droppings… 

Of course once we got our hands on the tradition, sarcasm and satire swiftly followed. Humorous gatherations of people and professions began popping up and Juliana’s Book of St Albans became so popular that it was republished, addended, and referenced for generations to come. What began as a bit of fun became a permanent fixture in the English lexicon – and one we continue to add to. While reading some of the weirder examples of collective nouns I realised just how flexible the English language is. Unlike other rules-based languages, ours is forever shifting and evolving – Shakespeare is responsible for adding at least 1,700 words to the dictionary (including bedroom) simply because he made them up and enough people thought “I like that… we’ll keep it!”. Newfangled vocabulary is included into our official language every year (whether we like it or not) and soon it won’t even occur to us that our conversations are a Shakespearean-Gen Z mash up.

The thing is, collective nouns are just such brilliant inspiration. When you picture a murder of crows, an entire scene floods into vision along dark wings. A chuckle of crows conjures an entirely different vibe (and sound), and if you were to switch crows and flamingos… Well, suddenly I’m seeing how creepy flamingos are.

So why do geese get to be a gaggle, but sharks are a shiver?

And that’s the point – Our exhaustive list of collective nouns are all entirely made up! They’re designed to convey whatever feeling the author wants you to have regarding the subject matter, managing to efficiently deliver a full mental picture complete with surround sound, satirical commentary, and, occasionally, the heebie jeebies in just one succinct phrase.

With all that in mind, this month’s Penasium challenge is as follows:

1) Choose a subject whose collective noun you enjoy/agree with OR invent a collective noun with the aim of making your audience feel a particular way about your chosen subject.

2) Create a piece of work around your chosen collective noun. As always, this could take any form you wish: a sketch, poem, linocut, scrapbook, story, song… It’s up to you!

I’ll be taking on this challenge too, so get in touch with your responses – show me yours and I’ll show you mine!