Which body or group are responsible for making up the words that go on to be collective nouns for animals?

[Cocosweet]

What exactly qualifies them and what process do they go through when coming up with a word to describe different groups of animals?

The reason i ask this is because some of them sound so ridiculous that i wouldn't be surprised if they get their phrases from their toddlers at home.

Here check these out.

http://users.tinyonli...thenbank/collnoun.htm

[sandyRoe]

Bellowing and Bullfinches are words that really don't go together. The Bullfinches around here don't do much bellowing, anyway.

[Old_Geezer]

Different collective nouns may be fun, but is totally unnecessary. All should have the same word. "group" is a good one.

[ChuckFickens]

So a large group of impala is A couple of impalas?

That's sure to confuse people!

[jackthehat]

The same people who are responsible for making up the rest of the words in the English Language.......!?!?

[Frank97]

Well I know it was the ''Not the nine o'clock news'' writers who first used the word ''Flange'' for a group of Gorillas.

[dzug2]

No one is 'responsible'. Language evolution happens.

If anything it's the general public who like the sound of a new word and start using it. Or misusing it quite often.

[Cocosweet]

Jackthehat and these people are?
Is there different departments for different aspects for the english language?
Who exactly are the group responsible for collective nouns, if tomorrow David Attenbourough was in Madagascar or the jungles of Brazil or somewhere else and they found completely new species, who's job is it to name them collectively?

[DTCwordfan]

There is indeed a jangle of Editors deep inside the Oxford Dictionary offices. We on AB, of course, prefer to use the collective of a "Gnome of Editors;" this will shortly enter the English language.

[Cocosweet]

Dtcrosswordfan but editors are not the real brain behind the ideas they just edit things that have already been thought up.
Who are the real brains behind the whole operation?

[Bert]

There is a page of these 'collective nouns' at the back of a dictionary - I forget which one. The list is prefaced by a 'warning' that most of them comes from a 14th century (?) document, and that some may not be in regular use, and may, indeed, by made up to be amusing. I doubt whether anyone has ever called a flock of starlings a 'murmuration', and even a 'murder' of crows seems a bit fanciful. But a pride of lions is in common usage, as is a gaggle of geese. Not so sure about the last one, to be honest. If I see a lot of geese (on land) I just think that there are a lot of geese; I don't think of the word 'gaggle' - do you?

[Bert]

Another thing, I'm no Bill Oddie, but I'm pretty sure that a lot of those collections of birds refer to birds that do not flock together - you might see a pair occasionally, but that's about it. A 'shiver' of sharks sounds good (for two reasons), but in all the wild-life documentaries I see on TV, they seem to be fairly solitary - you don't get vast groups of them like you get with small prey fish, e.g. sardines.

[albaqwerty]

A Can of Sardines... (My apologies, I couldn't resist)

[Quizmonster]

Collective nouns have been described as "one of the few aspects of etymology that invite the user to coin his or her own at will". The earliest collection of these was called The Boke of St Albans, published in 1486. This was devoted to hunting and creature terms such as an exultation of larks, a parliament of rooks and a murmuration of starlings. Many of these terms were created specifically by the author of the book, believed to be a prioress called Dame Juliana Barnes.
Since these early days, many others have been created such as a pride of lions and a skulk of foxes, which describe the character of the creatures. Others are just onomatopoeic, like a gaggle of geese and yet more suggest real or imagined behavioural characteristics such as a business of ferrets and an unkindness of ravens.
Today, these collective names are often composed to make fun of a given group of people such as a flutter of ladies-in-waiting, a flourish of strumpets - for a group of prostitutes! - a deceit of lawyers or a yawn of politicians.
Since this area is so open to creativity, we often find that there is more than one term used for the creatures' homes, too...foxes have dens or earths, wasps have nests or bikes and so on. It's really not worth getting worked up about, since the whole matter is so fluid.

Make up your own...lots of other people have, including Dame Juliana!

[heathfield]

And, appropriately enough, what with the reasons behind the present recession and the financial turmoil in Europe...''a wunch of bankers!'' ;-(

[Marsh12]

'A wunch of bankers' has been around for quite a while (with good reason). Has it reached the O.E.D.? yet, Quizmonster?

[Quizmonster]

Sad to say, Marsh, no word 'wunch' has yet hit the OED's website. You might find it in a site specialising in Spoonerisms, however.

[Marsh12]

I'll live in hope

[Baldric]

As the owner of two large dogs, I think I may have come up with a new collective noun;
A Pester of Dobermen!
;o))