HOW MANY CATS DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE A CLOWDER?

Well, first of all, I would like to thank everybody who said they liked my "Ode to Summer" poem that I posted yesterday.  I don't want to sound too smug, but I think you will probably see this poem in literature textbooks in the future.

A clowder of cats

Today I am going to talk about something called collective nouns.  And what these are is names for several items that are all together in one place.  If you are like me, you probably mostly use ordinary words like "group," "bunch," "gang," or "gob."  But now I am going to tell you some more interesting and unusual words that you can use.  And all of these words are for animals or birds, so that makes them even better.

When I first decided to talk about collective nouns, I thought I could just make a little list for you and that would be an easy way to write a blog entry.  But guess what!  There are way more collective nouns than I ever dreamed there could be!  So I am just going to tell you a few of them today, and that way I will have a bunch left over to tell you about another day.

A kindle of kittens

So first I will talk about CATS, because a group of cats can be called a clowder.  Which is a fun word that sort of makes me think of chowder, but that's something different.  Anyway, I don't know how many cats it takes to make a clowder, but I'm guessing maybe at least three.  Because two cats would just be a pair.

But besides a clowder, there are some other things you can call a group of cats, such as a clutter, a glaring, or a pounce.  And a bunch of KITTENS is a litter, a kindle, or an intrigue.

A pack of howling wolves

Sadly, DOGS don't have as many interesting names for their groups.  Mostly they are just packs.  Except for HOUNDS, which can be a cry.  And a group of CURS is called a cowardice, but I think that term isn't very nice, personally.  FOXES have lots of good words, though, because you can call them a skulk, cloud, troop, or company.

WOLVES are mostly just a pack, the same as a bunch of dogs, but you can also call a wolf pack a rout.

A coalition of cheetahs

CHEETAHS get together in a coalition, which sounds like a very powerful group.  Not to mention that they can run really fast, too.  A group of LEOPARDS is a leap, and LIONS can gather in a pride, a sault, a sowse, or a troop.

A sault of lions

Okay, well, that's enough new and exciting words for one day.  There is actually a whole book about these collective nouns, and it's called An Exaltation of Larks.  It was written by a man named James Lipton.  I have not read this book, and neither has Mom, but I think that anybody who read it would learn a lot of very useful words.