Thread: Strange and Unusual Facts

Originally Posted by tomcat

A group of pandas is called an "embarrassment."

This sounds like something that is so because the Internet says it is so. There is a long history of inventing collective nouns for animals in English. I can imagine a couple of undergraduates with beer and nothing better to do looking for animals without a collective noun then choosing some random noun and posting it about the place to fill a vacuum.

Since pandas are mostly solitary, there isn't much need for a collective noun. Except maybe for a pub quiz. The most I have ever seen in one place was six, in Shanghai zoo. Not all in one pen.

Interestingly, if you are interested in such things, Chinese doesn't really go in for collective nouns in the whimsical way that English does. So far as I know, a group of pandas would be called 群 (qun2), a generic word for a group, which can be used for dogs, cows and just about anything. As with so many things, I could be entirely wrong and would be happy to be better informed.

Originally Posted by Shutree

Since pandas are mostly solitary, there isn't much need for a collective noun. Except maybe for a pub quiz.

In a pub quiz, one should point out that they can also be referred to as a bamboo or as a cupboard of pandas.
One should do this just before closing time, as being a smartass is likely to irk the staff.

Originally Posted by Latindancer

Teakdoor has an eructation of trolls we call The Mutt Pack.

cant keep my eyes off of you....

Originally Posted by TheMadBaron

Points to the first person who can tell me which three of the above I just made up.

These ones

Originally Posted by TheMadBaron

A business of ferrets
A conspiracy of ravens
A dazzle of zebra

And these ones you made up a couple of minutes ago ?

Originally Posted by TheMadBaron

A dazzle of zebra
An eleven of footballers
A flamboyance of flamingoes
A grist of bees
A husk of hares
An ignorance of asses
A jocularity of hyenas
A kindle of kittens
A leap of leopards
A mischief of rats
A nursery of racoons
An obesity of Americans
A perversion of sailors
A queen of tarts
A romp of otters
A superfluity of nuns
A troop of apes
An unkindness of ravens

Originally Posted by helge

These ones

Oh dear. You're not even trying.

Originally Posted by TheMadBaron

You're not even trying.

Bingo !

Originally Posted by helge

Bingo !

And still adding unnecessary spaces before your punctuation marks!

Originally Posted by TheRealKW

And still adding unnecessary spaces before your punctuation marks!

Freedom of Speech

Spaces are for free.

The Formosan clouded leopard was declared extinct in 2013 after no sightings since 1983. In February of 2019, it was spotted for the first time in almost 40 years.

Mount Etna Eruption on December 22, 2020.

Colorado's Supermax prison now occupied by El Chapo is "worse than death," ex-warden says


Where’s my pardon, puto?

Originally Posted by TheMadBaron

A clapped out post colonial vestige of redundant imperialism

Hawaii?

Originally Posted by tomcat

Mount Etna Eruption on December 22, 2020.

It's not really a strange or unusual fact, but a great picture nonetheless (and from yesterday, when Mount Etna erupted again).

Originally Posted by Shutree

This sounds like something that is so because the Internet says it is so. There is a long history of inventing collective nouns for animals in English. I can imagine a couple of undergraduates with beer and nothing better to do looking for animals without a collective noun then choosing some random noun and posting it about the place to fill a vacuum.

Since pandas are mostly solitary, there isn't much need for a collective noun. Except maybe for a pub quiz. The most I have ever seen in one place was six, in Shanghai zoo. Not all in one pen.

Interestingly, if you are interested in such things, Chinese doesn't really go in for collective nouns in the whimsical way that English does. So far as I know, a group of pandas would be called 群 (qun2), a generic word for a group, which can be used for dogs, cows and just about anything. As with so many things, I could be entirely wrong and would be happy to be better informed.

You are entirely right.
They also don't go for personal pronouns.
Everything is 'it' (ta)
him, her, it referring to an animal.
I think eddie izzard should adopt the Chinese it.

What is the collective noun for collective nouns?

Originally Posted by dirk diggler

What is the collective noun for collective nouns?

A supergroup.

On average, the closest planet to Neptune, is Mercury.


Actually, the closest planet to every planet, is Mercury.

Originally Posted by Edmond

Actually, the closest planet to every planet, is Mercury.

Actually, no it isn't, because not every planet is in our solar system.

Santa Claus trades his red hood for a helmet to deliver presents during the London Blitz, 1940.

...^555...

Originally Posted by tomcat

Strange and Unusual Facts

What cheese is made backwards?

Is it Dutch by any chance?

Will get me coat.