Collective Pony Nouns · 9:01pm Sep 27th, 2013
John Scalzi posted "Literary Figure Collective Nouns" on his blog earlier this month:
Imagine there were more than one of your favorite literary characters (or film characters, or video game characters, or whatever). Like clones, or something. What would you call the grouping of the multiple instances of that character? What would be their idiomatically correct collective noun? Give your examples in the comment thread.
To get you started, here’s some I’ve thought up.
A Hesitation of Hamlets
A Banter of Benedicts
A Dourness of Darias
A Honeypot of Poohs
A Returning of Terminators
A Smirking of Kirks
A Library of Belles
An Aside of Rosencrantzes
A Fussiness of Fraisers
An Embarrassment of Jar-Jars
So... what should the collective form be for MLP characters?
A fancy of Rarities
A rash of Rainbows
A twinkling of Twilights (an anthology of Twilights?)
A fluster of Fluttershies
A bushel of Applejacks (hatful? fifth?)
A party of Pinkies
A silence of Macintoshes
A stumbling of Derpies
A handful of Lyras
An octavo of Octavias
A tribunal of Harshwhinnies
A trouble of Trixies
A catastrophe of Crusaders
A raving of reviewers
A handful of cloppers...
A 502 of bronies
A 502 of ponyfic authors
A snickering of Sunsets? I don't think I'm too good at this.
1379643 I don't get it. You mean 502? (Gateway Error)
That's what I meant when I said 404. Changed. Now we both look silly.
A League of Bad Horses.
A gaggle of Skywriters.
A haunting of Ghost's
A view of horizons
An army of Paladins
A Scramble of Shadows
1379650
502 Fiction.net
We sometimes serve fanfiction.
1379658 Oops. That was what I meant to put for bronies.
A cacophony of Octavias
A drop of Vinyls
These are called "Venery terms," and they're great fun.
"Venery" itself has two meanings, the pertinent one here being "the art or practice of hunting." Because different game animals took different collective nouns: bevy of quail, raft of ducks, sloth (or sleuth) of bears, and so on.
One potentially relevant term: a cohort of zebra.
Tally ho!
A buzzing of Scootaloos
A squeaking of Sweetie Belles
An impatience of Apple Blooms
A demand of Diamond Tiaras
A snark of Spikes (not to be confused with a snark of Spike's)
1379737 My theory is that, like etiquette and accents, they were proof of pedigree and connections. Only rich people hunted, and the number and up-to-dateness of these terms that you knew showed how much you hunted, and with whom.
1379658
Gaggle is singularly appropriate!
Also, can the world handle more than one Harshwhinny?
1379790
That makes sense and there's precedent--the test given to Tristan, on field-dressing a deer without getting your clothes dirty.
I've actually seen that done, by the way: you need a...
...a good sharp knife--not a terribly big one--and...
...and, er, some knowledge of a deer's anatomy, but it's not that hard, to, um ...
...OKAY! OKAY! Sheesh.
How about a blaze of Spitfires?
1379809 I still haven't figured out why so many campers & hunters carry giant 7-inch "hunting knives", when they're useless for skinning or working a hide, or pretty much anything other than stabbing people.
I'd go with an Bewilderment of Pinkie Pies, myself, although an overdose, a pestering, and an excess of Pinkies are all close runners up.
Maybe a Vaunter of Trixies?
1379818
How many hunters are there for the hunting, and how many are there to drink beer with the dudes and get their manliness on in the middle of the woods?
Because:
1379828
The men of yon forest, they ask it of me:
"How many strawberries grow in the sea?"
I answered them as I thought it good:
"As many as hunters who wait in the deer blind until the topless bars open, then don't leave the wood."
1379813
A baker's dozen of Soarin's?
I was thinking of a Library of Twilights until I saw the Belle entry. How about:
A Concordance of Twilights
A Googol of Pinkies (also applies to only one)
A Crisis of Raritys
A Brilliance of Celestias
A vengeance of nightmares
A substitution of changelings
An unkindness of griffins
A pyre of timberwolves
An assertion of minotaurs
YOU ALL (including me) SUCK. Not a single collective noun for best pony? How about
A mare[1] of Lunas
1379650
How about "a boom of Rainbows"?
> a handful of cloppers
1379658
The other me, who is also not a changeling, approves.
--
[1] Pronounced "mah-ray."
1380004 1381134
Ooh, or maybe
An azimuth of Celestias
A zenith of Lunas
1381139 Well of course there's also:
A Conjunction of Lunas
A Tide of Lunas
An Occultation of Nightmares
And without doubt, there's:
A Conflagration of Philomenas
a Parade of Pinkies
a Party of Pinkies (also the singular term)
a Galaxy of Lunas
a Universe of Celestias
an Orchard of Applejacks
an Explosion of Crusaders
a Rainboom of Rainbows
a Selection of Rarities
a Pride of Trixies
a Brownian of Discords
a Pot of Pony Joes
a Rush of Rainbows
a Reserve of Fluttershys (or a Zoo)
a Collection of Twilights (or a Binding)
a Clop of Cloud Kickers
an Orchestra of Octavias
a Disco of DJPon3s
a Selection of Bon Bons
a Hand of Lyras
A league of Sweetie Belles.