1 EAGLETON NOTES: A Charm of Starlings

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Friday, 26 August 2011

A Charm of Starlings

CJ posted today on the term A Charm of Starlings and explained how the term came about.   It has always seemed to me to be a most inappropriate term for these noisy, quarrelsome and usually objectionable birds (beautiful though some may consider them).  Given that the word charm arose somewhere before the middle of the 19 century and has now fallen into desuetude perhaps we should use another collective noun.

How about A Quarrel of Starlings?  Any ideas? 

Posted by Graham Edwards at 13:13
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5 comments:

  1. Scrappy Grams26 August 2011 at 14:49

    starlings? not so charming to me...

    ReplyDelete
  2. ADRIAN26 August 2011 at 15:34

    A Scrap of Starlings...........I love watching their bickering........A Bickering of Starlings.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Scriptor Senex26 August 2011 at 17:12

    A squabble?

    ReplyDelete
  4. marshalls29 August 2011 at 18:45

    Definitely has to be a squabble. I'm with CJ.

    ReplyDelete
  5. sansserif29 August 2011 at 23:54

    desuetude?? old legal habits die hard!
    Yes, squabble might be it...

    ReplyDelete

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