collective nouns, metaphors
I like this collective noun for epithets, ‘artillery’ suggesting a quickfire delivery of pithy comments, with the additional charm of a military echo in the resemblance between ‘epithet’ and ‘epaulet’. ‘… an artillery of...
collective nouns, put in a good word
A perfect collective noun for a mass of marvels. There are good reasons the first of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s duo of travel books is entitled A Time of Gifts.One of the most beautifully wrought recollections of a youthful stride across Europe, also capturing...
collective nouns, put in a good word
A poetic collective noun, evoking the soothing cooing of the birds of peace, one of the gentlest sounds in nature (or...
collective nouns, put in a good word
So now, when you are reporting from a medical conference, you know the correct term to package all those medics together. They are huddling and expostulating as a ‘doctrine’. Perhaps the collective noun refers, however, as much or more to doctors of the...
collective nouns, put in a good word
What did cobblers do to be nailed with such a bad reputation? When did you ever see a drunken cobbler? Surely they should cobble together a class action, and hobble such aspersions on their profession, particularly given the favourable light cast on any gathering of...
collective nouns, put in a good word
Having recently revelled in the bursting descriptions of a quaffing, boozing, drunken chef in Mervyn Peake’s Titus Groan, I was surprised to see the collective noun for the profession of cook being ‘temperance’. Perhaps Swelter is the exception...
