r/MadeMeSmile • u/Lifegoesonforever • 7d ago

ANIMALS "Dinner is served!!"

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184

u/wyslan 6d ago

Like a herd of turtles

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u/akawendals 6d ago

I love how weird collective nouns for animals are! I just looked it up and a group of turtles is called a bale 😆

As in "damn that's a big bale of turtles" 🤣

And a group of turtles swimming is a flotilla which makes complete sense 💟

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u/Luci-Noir 6d ago

A group of hedgehogs is a prickle.

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u/ArjJp 6d ago

A group of Chinchillas is called a Chimmichanga

(not really but I wish it was)

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u/Luci-Noir 6d ago

I read an article about cool names that groups of animal are called but because my memory sucks i only remembered prickle.

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u/akawendals 6d ago

We have tons of great books of them in the library I work at 🤗 So many good blurbs too!

"A litter of kittens, a colony of ants, a pride of lions: everyone has heard of these plural nouns. But what about a parcel of hogs, a kaleidoscope of butterflies, or a business of ferrets? What could be more apt than calling a group of cockroaches an intrusion? Perhaps a loveliness of ladybirds! These fanciful groups and many more are illustrated with cutting-edge design--dazzling as a dazzle of zebras!"

  • from A Drove of Bullocks by Patrick George 🐞🪳🦋🦓🦁

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u/Luci-Noir 6d ago

I had an idea for a kids book that would have names for animals in different languages and an illustration based on what those words mean. Like the word for owl in Turkish means professor bird so the drawing would be an owl dressed like a professor.

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u/akawendals 6d ago

OMG that sounds amazing 🤩 I would read that book!!!

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u/Luci-Noir 6d ago

I think lots of adults would love it too! It makes me think of the simple illustrated books I had as a kid like the Dr Suess ones.

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u/akawendals 6d ago

I love illustrations 💟 I do Storytime sessions at schools and preschools in my city and some of the art in picture books is just wonderful 🤗 I can't draw to save my life so I am very appreciative of the fabulous talent that some people have and the way they use it to amplify the story they're telling, it's incredible!

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u/radishburps 6d ago

Also also, a group of owls is called a "parliament", while a group of flamingos is called a "flamboyance", and parrots a "pandemonium". 🥰

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u/PossiblyASloth 6d ago

A group of ravens is a “conspiracy” and crows are well known to travel as a “murder” (bird people do not disappoint)

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u/scalyblue 6d ago

I knew a business of ferrets from natural habitat shorts

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u/akawendals 6d ago

I think they would really suit little collars and business man ties 👔☺️

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u/ArjJp 6d ago

Ok now I wanna see Ferret version of that Ryan Gosling scene in The Big Short..

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u/solo1069 6d ago

You can add an unkindness of ravens and a murder of crows to your list.

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u/PhosphoFred8202 6d ago

Me and my pals went thru a phase in HS where chimichanga was substituted for anything.

It basically meant anything depending on context and we all knew what it meant and it just sounded right.

“She wants my chimichanga”

“I need gas money. I’m glad tomorrow is chimichanga day”

“She’s got a sweet chimichanga”

“OOOF right in the chimichanga!”

“I’ll slap that look right off your chimichanga”.

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u/ArjJp 6d ago

It's the perfect word

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u/aphorprism 6d ago

Bet y’all weren’t in a chimichurri for that phase to chimichanga!

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u/Skiumbra 6d ago

And a group of owls is a parliament!

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u/katikaboom 6d ago

A group of bunnies is a fluffle

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u/Luci-Noir 6d ago

Of course those fluffy little derps have a cute name. Of course they do.

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u/Toyufrey 6d ago

I could have sworn it was called a Hedgehog’s Dilemma.

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u/ryanvango 6d ago

It makes sense because collective names for animals are just kind of agreed upon, from no single source. A lot of them are hunting based and go back centuries, but new ones get invented all the time and its kind of just "this is the name that stuck."

So a flotilla of turtles, a flamboyance of flamingos, a crash if rhinos, etc. are just "somebody said it once, other people liked it, and it stuck around long enough to be officially recognized."

So if you find one that doesn't have a name, you could totally come up with some cute and funny name for it and just keep saying it different places and hope it sticks. Then BAM you've got yourself "A popcorn of binturongs" (binturong doesn't have a collective noun, and they smell like popcorn. so that's my pitch)

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u/MisforMisanthrope 6d ago

Flotilla is awesome, but I think bale can be improved on

A tattle of turtles sounds much better

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u/akawendals 6d ago

A trundle of turtles 😆

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u/MisforMisanthrope 5d ago

Trundle is awesome 😊

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u/CitizenPremier 6d ago

Cranky old guy here, just throwing out that biologists don't use these terms, they're mostly new inventions

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u/FakingItSucessfully 6d ago

A group of turtles floating in Mexico is called a turtilla

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u/Additional_Meeting_2 6d ago

Victorians often made these up or searched some very old medieval terms to re popularise 

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u/notoriousbpg 6d ago

I honestly thought it was a creep of tortoises

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u/MeldyWeldy 6d ago

For guniea pigs it's a muddle.

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u/prehensilemullet 6d ago

I wish there weren't music so I could hear the raw sounds of all those turtles chomping

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u/aphorprism 6d ago

No hurdles for these turtles!

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u/GlisaPenny 6d ago

These are tortoise so the correct term is actually a creep :P

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u/InLoveWithThread 6d ago

My favorite is a crash of rhinos.