Collective Nouns Trivia

1. Considering that they cannot produce offspring, what is the collective term for mules?

From Quiz Group Collective Names Two

Answer: A barren

Found in the "The Trivia Encyclopedia" by Fred L. Worth, published by Berkley Pub Group, 1984, a barren of mules reflects the sad fact that mules, the offspring of a female horse and a male donkey, are hybrid and sterile animals, and cannot produce offspring of their own.

From Quiz Unusual Collective Terms 2

Answer: Smack

A group of jellyfish together would seem to make no noise at all, given their gelatinous physiological structure, but such is the case. Belonging to the phylum Cnidaria, jellyfish are usually umbrella shaped with various long and trailing tentacles. These can sting in some species, so treat them very warily. Jellyfish do not posses a respiratory system, but instead, because their skin is so thin, they are oxygenated by a process known as diffusion. Comprised for the most part of water - up to 98% in some species - one would think that a more appropriate term for a group of them would be a splat rather than a smack.

From Quiz Group Collective Names

Answer: A Shuffle

Bureaucrats are government employees who carry out - or do not carry out - various administrative functions of governmental departments. Today most of these same organisations and their bureaucrats have become rather bogged down with massive amounts of sometimes unnecessary, irrelevant and ridiculous regulations. A classic example of this in this country is the time we had to apply for tax file numbers. Filling out reams of paperwork to do so from the relevant government department, we were eventually told that the numbers couldn't be issued until we provided copies of our birth certificates. On subsequently filling out reams of paperwork to obtain these birth certificates from another government department, we were then eventually informed that birth certificates couldn't be provided until we had first provided our tax file numbers.

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: Band, Gaggle, Blush, Giggle

The correct answers are a band of men, a gaggle of women, a blush of boys and a giggle of girls. However, some of the other collective nouns were also used but not in this context. These include a banner of knights, a gang of workmen/labourers, a bevy of ladies, a team of athletes, an troop of boy scouts and an impatience of wives.

From Quiz The Strange World of Collective Nouns

Answer: Rhumba

You cannot tell how old a rattlesnake is by the number of its rattles. A new rattle segment is added every time a rattle snake sheds its skin but how often this happens depends on a number of factors including food supply and growth rates. Rattles can also break off.

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: a cluster of

Tuft would be suitable for grass. A bunch of grapes is what you buy in the shop. A bunch is already detached from the vine. A bevy...is a large group of people esp. women or girls. Just go and see 'Moulin Rouge': bevies of pretty girls.

From Quiz Group Collective Names Two

Answer: A bloat

Found in "Collective Terms for Groups of Animals", Oxford University Press, United Kingdom, 2006, a hippopotamus is a large mammal found in Africa. It is the third biggest of Africa's land creatures. The origin of its peculiar name is Greek and translates to "river horse", but don't expect this lumbering herbivore to win any sprints. It can do a thundering run of 30 kilometres (19 miles) per hour for short distances however if it has to, but much prefers to spend its days partly submerged in the cooling waters of any river it can find.

From Quiz Unusual Collective Terms 2

Answer: Squabble

How apt is that? Especially if any food is tossed to them from picnic tables. The resulting noise and squabble is deafening. Don't feed them, even though tempted to. Many of these birds are missing a foot, or even both, and try to hobble around keeping up with the others. They almost always miss out on those scraps, and it's kind of heartbreaking to see them trying to desperately grab some while attempting to keep their balance at the same time. Seagulls belong to the family Laridae and are distantly related to auks and skimmers. They're scavengers and carnivores for the most part, and favourite treats, apart from picnic scraps, include crabs and other small sea creatures. Oh this is horrible: Some seagulls even feed off live whales. They dive down onto those large and gracious creatures and peck out pieces of their flesh. Not the poor little feetless gulls though. They have a hard enough job balancing on solid ground.

From Quiz Group Collective Names

Answer: A File

Civil servants bear much the same function as bureaucrats, that of staff members involved in public administration. This term does not include the armed services.

From Quiz The Strange World of Collective Nouns

Answer: a conflagration

Guy Fawkes is one of the most famous arsonists. In 1605, he plotted to kill King James I and the members of both houses of Parliament in England by blowing up Westminster Palace during its formal opening session. He was caught and executed for treason and attempted murder.

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: a suite

From Quiz Group Collective Names Two

Answer: A gulp

Found in the work "Animal Congregations, or What Do You Call a Group of..?" by U.S. Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, 2015, cormorants are part of a family of 40 different bird species. This bird, which looks a little like a penguin-duck mix, can be found nesting in cliffs along seashores. They catch their food by diving under the water, scooping up a fish, and swallowing it in one greedy gulp. Man has utilised this bird in the fishing industry for over 1,300 years, particularly in India, Egypt, China and Japan. The birds are trained to catch their prey and return them to the boats, and are prevented from swallowing all but the smallest fish by bands placed around their necks. Their reward is of course a small fish each time, with the larger fish retained by the fishermen to be sold or traded or eaten by his own family.

From Quiz Unusual Collective Terms 2

Answer: A rhumba

Rattlesnakes are venomous, creepy looking creatures from the family of pit vipers. There are at least 36 different species of them, and their favourite treats are small birds and rodents. Rattlesnakes do give predators, including man, the courtesy of warning them first with their distinctive rattle sound, and this can deter some attackers. Otherwise, they're goners. Rattlesnakes seldom bite unless threatened though, and you'll be pleased to know that their bites are seldom fatal for humans. Some consolation. I'd drop dead from the shock regardless of the bite. Aha, here's a possible explanation for their collective term: During mating season, a receptive female leaves a trail of pheromones behind her and the male, once he picks up that scent, follows her around for days until she invites him in. However, if there are two males, they will often fight one another for that right, and, when they do get into a scuffle, they twist and intertwine around one another, darting and moving their heads about, until one cedes the battle. This is called a combat dance, and the rhumba grouping term followed on from that.

From Quiz Group Collective Names

Answer: A Shower

Meteorologists are scientists who study the atmosphere. It is a very old discipline stretching back over centuries with an impressive array of knowledge gleaned by members who have sometimes had but the most minimal of equipment to help in their work. The great Aristotle (384-322 BC) is considered the father of this science.

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: A slate

Although it seems that a ballot (paper) should be the correct answer, it is in fact a slate of candidates. Of course, whichever candidate is elected generally enters a subsequent group with different collective nouns. Often this group is that of politicians, for which every collective noun always seems to be negative.

From Quiz The Strange World of Collective Nouns

Answer: A hug

The technical term for a person who loves teddy bears is an arctophile.

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: a medley

You could speak of a set of teacups, tools etc. A batch of French loaves. An assortment of Belgian chocolates or English toffees.

From Quiz Group Collective Names Two

Answer: An attitude

The origins of this collective term for a group of teenagers is unknown, but it's so spot on that it's really amusing. At times you wish you'd reared goldfish instead of teenagers with their moods, their mutters, their conviction that everyone is picking on them, their certainty that nobody loves or understand them, their messy rooms, their grumpiness and so on. Ah but they're impossible not to love. Somebody has to, that's for sure. But then, suddenly, in the blink of a tear-filled eye, they're gone and you're left with only memories. Cherish every single moment while you have it, moods and all.

From Quiz Unusual Collective Terms 2

Answer: A business

Flies - buzzing constanty, landing on food, landing on faces and hands, buzzing, buzzing, buzzing. They're the most annoying and busy insects under the sun. Belonging to the order Diptera, flies are members of the larger family that includes equally annoying mosquitoes, gnats, midges, sand flies and the like. Oh ugh, this is even more disgusting. Female flies lay their eggs as close to any food source as possible, and, after laying, the eggs immediately hatch, and then proceed to eat as much as they can in the shortest time. Some eggs even hatch inside the female. Shades of the 1979 movie "Alien"! If you're ever down here in Australia, you'll see many Aussies, in the hotter stickier weather, performing the great Australian salute. That takes place because we're constantly waving flies away from our faces.

From Quiz Group Collective Names

Answer: A Wisdom

Grandparents are the ever so delightful parents of one's father or mother. While it is not necessarily true that they are full of wisdom, it can be stated with a degree of accuracy that they do contain, for the most part, a wealth of experience. They may not know (or care about) the Theorem of Pythagoras, or even how to spell it, but their life's experience should not be disregarded when it comes to matters involving the human condition.

From Quiz The Strange World of Collective Nouns

Answer: a troop

You should never eat mushrooms you find in the wild, unless you are very experienced in their identification. Many mushrooms that look like edible varieties can be poisonous and lead to vomiting, hallucinations and even death.

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: shoals

States may form a confederation. Nuns and regular clerics may belong to a congregation. Bees constitute swarms. Fish live in shoals. 'The shoals of herring' is an Irish folksong. Occasionally the word school is to be preferred e.g. for whales and dolphins.

From Quiz Group Collective Names Two

Answer: A bridge

Bridge, as in bridge of a ship that is, the elevated enclosure where the officers of the vessel direct operations. This saying can be found in "An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition", by James Lipton, published by Penguin USA, 1993. Admirals are more often than not based on the headquarters on land rather than on a ship, but are so much associated with ocean going vessels that this saying is most appropriate.

From Quiz Unusual Collective Terms 2

Answer: An audience

Squid belong to the order Teuthida. They are cephalopods, and, like all of their kind, the head is their most outstanding feature. Amazingly these sea creatures can leap from the water for such distances that they appear to be flying. Also amazing is the fact that they have three hearts, two for the gills, and with both of these on either side of the central heart. Squid are quite hideous looking creatures that only a mother could love. Humans also love squid - on a plate.

From Quiz Group Collective Names

Answer: A Chin

This comical collective term pretty well says it all. Beards consist of hair on faces around the chin area. Fortunately most beards occur on men instead of women. I do believe, though it may not be true, that the reason for this is that women find it hard to apply lipstick if they have beards. The study of beards is called pogonology. Who on earth would want to study beards? Throughout the history of mankind, beards have been associated with manliness, virility and wisdom. Oh blah, blah, blah, as if. Here's something interesting though: Ancient Egyptians sometimes attached false beards to their cows. Now that's enough to make any self-respecting girl give a moo or two.

From Quiz Collective Nouns

Answer: a wad

Wheat can be arranged in sheaves. Books, magazines that are lying about will be called a heap. When they can be carried, we call them a pile.

From Quiz Group Collective Names Two

Answer: A peep

This can be found in Terry Ross's work "Group Names for Birds" and sums up perfectly the sounds of small chickens as they gather around the old mother hen for protection and solace. It is such a lovely sight to see and hear, and their harassed parent always seems to know exactly where each one of her brood is at any given time, as she anxiously supervises and guards them from any would be predators.

From Quiz Unusual Collective Terms 2

Answer: An implausibility

Gnus, also known as wildebeests, are a type of antelope from the family Bovidae. Found mostly in the south and east of Africa, most (but not all) gnus are known for their huge annual migrations which appear to be related to seasonal rainfalls and the growth of new pastures. This is a very dangerous time for them, as the path of that migration often involves crossing wide rivers inhabited with crocodiles. This has earned them the collective term of an implausibility of gnus because it is implausible that they appear to be so suicidal in this regard. But a gnu's gotta do what a gnu's gotta gnu.

From Quiz Group Collective Names

Answer: A Ponder

Philosophy is the study of concepts such as existence, thought, knowledge and so forth. It can be quite interesting, but also, unless you've had several cups of coffee to clear your head, extremely confusing. A reading of same is also highly recommended if you require a good night's sleep. I think, therefore I play trivia.

From Quiz The Strange World of Collective Nouns

Answer: A parliament

A parliament can, however, be used to describe a group of rooks or owls.

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Last Updated Nov 01 2025 5:52 AM

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