In article , BAC
writes

"Malcolm" wrote in message
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In article , hugo agogo
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"Pickle" wrote in message
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"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
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Isn't it called a parliament of magpies? :-)

Janet

According to a book of mine (AA Book of the British Countryside) it's a
parliament of owls or rooks, and a "tiding" of magpies (bad tiding?)

Where did all these collective nouns come from? They don't appear in
any dictionary of mine, and seem rather contrived to me!

Mostly Victorian inventions, I believe. Contrived is a very good word
for them.


That'd be 'a contrivance of collective nouns', then, eh?

LOL.

I'd imagine people coin new collective nouns all the time, but most of them
don't make it into general usage or convince lexicographers to adopt them.

There are some of much greater lineage - Middle Ages, even - but there
did seem to be an outbreak in the Victorian era of coining a collective
noun for many birds that hadn't had them before. I, for one, am very
happy that lots of them have faded from use and memory. The word
"contrived" can also be used when someone tries to re-introduce them
into their writing or speech :-)

--
Malcolm