"But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created that a cat should play with mice."
-- Charles Darwin, Letter to Asa Gray
You are too good for them, and I hope your agreement stipulates fresh rose petals strewn in your path from the edge of campus to your office and back. A litter surely wouldn't be amiss.
But are you sure that "gaggle" is the best choice for a collective noun for deans? Sources on-line suggest "decanter/decorum," "muddle," "dither," and "delay" or "gripe." If none of those seems quite right, perhaps (for those other deans of course, not you) "sounder"?
You might enjoy this discussion of the relevant section of The Book of St. Albans, the earliest surviving English codification of collective terms of venery; the section on swine begins here. Michael Quinion has a good brief piece on collective nouns too.
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You are too good for them, and I hope your agreement stipulates fresh rose petals strewn in your path from the edge of campus to your office and back. A litter surely wouldn't be amiss.
ReplyDeleteBut are you sure that "gaggle" is the best choice for a collective noun for deans? Sources on-line suggest "decanter/decorum," "muddle," "dither," and "delay" or "gripe." If none of those seems quite right, perhaps (for those other deans of course, not you) "sounder"?
A sounder of wild boars.
ReplyDeleteLearning this justifies everything that has gone before the acquisition of this fact. No pain, no gain.
You might enjoy this discussion of the relevant section of The Book of St. Albans, the earliest surviving English codification of collective terms of venery; the section on swine begins here. Michael Quinion has a good brief piece on collective nouns too.
ReplyDeleteThe section on swine begins here: a phrase of infinite application.
ReplyDelete