Collective Nouns...of the paranormal
by Jen Wylie
Some time ago I wrote on my blog about the fun of collective nouns. For those of you going “huh?”, a collective noun is a word used to define a group of objects, where objects can be people, animals, emotions, or other things. These can be general, such as a flock of birds, or more specific to a certain species, such as or a pride of lions, a murder of crows, etc.
This whole idea got me to thinking about collective nouns for the fantastical. So let's play with that!
An Internet search showed some are already in popular use, such as a kiss of vampires. Others have come up with ideas on their own.
For the shape shifting types it would be logical to use the collective noun for their animal, ie a pack of werewolves, a pride of were-lions etc. This could also apply to those with names other than 'were'. For example, selkies, which shift from seal to human could have the collective noun for seals when in that form. However in this case things can get confusing, as it is not uncommon for a species to have more than one collective noun. Seals have the following: Pod, Bob, Harem, Herd, Rookery.
But what about everything else? I like a gore of zombies. BRAINS! How about a fickle of elves? Do you know of any common usages, or have a good idea of your own?
About the Author:
Jennifer Wylie resides in rural Ontario, Canada with her two boys, Australian shepherd, a flock of birds and a disagreeable amount of wildlife. In a cosmic twist of fate she dislikes the snow and cold. Before settling down to raise a family, she attained a BA from Queens University and worked in retail and sales. Thanks to her mother she acquired a love of books at an early age and began writing in public school. She constantly has stories floating around in her head, and finds it amazing most people don’t.
Jennifer writes various forms of fantasy, both novels and short stories. Sweet Light is her debut novel published in 2011 by Echelon Press. She is also the author of the YA short story series, Tales of Ever, as well as the shorts Jump and The Forgotten Echo.
You can find her pretty much anywhere online:
Jen's website
Jen's blog
twitter: @jen_wylie
Jen's facebook page
Jen's smashwords page
Jen's Amazon Author page
HALF-CENTURY GIVEAWAY: Jen will be giving away an ebook as part of my half-century giveaway bonanza. Leave a comment to be entered in the drawing. Good luck to everyone. - E :)
