And we wondered what our blog topic would be today. It never seems to fail … something interesting comes up.
Today, on Twitter, we got the question (via a follower’s tweet):
“Does anyone know what the collective for ‘authors’ is? Grammar geeks, I need you!”
This sent us running for our copy of the fabulous book: “An Exaltation of Larks or, The Venereal Game” by James Lipton, which is, by most measures, the authority on collectives. Once we turned the cover, we were, once again, in deep; off and running, figuratively, in our own little collective world.
This book is delightful. We highly recommend it for those who enjoy a good play of words. And, these entries can be put to practical use too.
As a tribute to the great Dr. Lipton, we offer some additions to this ever-growing list of collectives. We begin with one that we invented because we did not find the answer to today’s original question …
A composition of authors.
And so, here goes:
- A schedule of planners.
- A class of trainers.
- A quota of sales reps.
- A pool of typists.
- A service of customer agents.
- A circuit of engineers.
- A board of chip designers.
- A club of golfers.
- A string of gift wrappers.
- A cut of hairdressers.
- A cell of inmates.
- A cord of bungee jumpers.
- A package of UPS drivers.
- A cue of pool players.
- A clue of detectives.
- A deck of carpenters.
- A pad of stenographers.
- A capsule of pharmacists.
- A tablet of scribes.
- A mess of marines.
- A gang of oneupsmen.
- A ledger of accountants.
- A set of screenwriters.
- A patch of menders.
- A pack of hikers.
- A register of cashiers.
- A league of SCUBA divers.
Enjoy, and feel free to add your own.
Grammar Police a.k.a. GrammarCops 