Recently I have been reading Chloe Rhodes' little gem of a book, An Unkindness of Ravens: A Book of Collective Nouns (London: Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, 2014).
Apparently most collective nouns - both those we are familiar with today and many more that have fallen into obscurity - date from the Middle Ages. Like the rest of the Middle English vocabulary, these forgotten collective nouns are often vivid, pithy and downright funny.
Some of my favourite:
a goring of butchers
a gaggle of gossips
a draught of butlers
a rascal of boys
a worship of writers [because they would flatter their rich patrons]
an eloquence of lawyers
a hastiness of cooks
a tabernacle of bakers [tabernacle (original meaning 'tent' or 'little hut') being the stall the backer would set up in the marketplace and from which he would sell his wares]
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