Â鶹Éç

« Previous | Main | Next »

The Springwatch collective

Post categories:

The Mole | 19:46 UK time, Monday, 25 May 2009

Some of you may have guessed that, despite being called The Mole, I am not actually a real live mole. Perhaps it was my excellent spelling but, to quote John Merrick in : "I am not an animal. I'm a human being."

The reason I mention this is that I have just been looking at the Springwatch Message Board and seen that many people who were active during Autumnwatch are back after - as they put it - 'a good winter sleep' or having been in 'hibernation'.

Now, I don't know these message boarders personally - so I'm only guessing - but I reckon they aren't animals either. And that got me thinking: if '' means 'attributing human characteristics to animals', then what is the opposite of anthropomorphism? What word describes the attribution of animal characteristics to humans? (Non-thropomorphism? Man-thropomorphism? Thrippy-throppy-morphism?)

And the more I thought of Springwatch fans as a group of animals the more I wondered what the collective noun for a group of Springwatch fans might be. In my first blog I asked what individual Springwatch fans should be called (Springers, Springheads, Springsters - I'd still love to know your suggestions), but now I'm wondering what the collective noun for a group of Springwatch fans might be.

You know what I mean. A group of whales is called a pod. Sheep are a herd. Crows are a murder. Baboons are a congress. Jellyfish form a smack. Coots form a cover. Polecats form a chiver. So what's a group of Springwatch fans called? A clutch? A curiousity? A party? A collective? An audience?

Here's a fairly exhaustive to inspire you. Send in your ideas!

Comments

More from this blog...

Topical posts on this blog

Categories

These are some of the popular topics this blog covers.

Latest contributors

Â鶹Éç iD

Â鶹Éç navigation

Â鶹Éç © 2014 The Â鶹Éç is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.