The Springwatch collective
Some of you may have guessed that, despite being called The Mole, I am not actually a real live mole. Perhaps it was my excellent spelling but, to quote John Merrick in : "I am not an animal. I'm a human being."
The reason I mention this is that I have just been looking at the Springwatch Message Board and seen that many people who were active during Autumnwatch are back after - as they put it - 'a good winter sleep' or having been in 'hibernation'.
Now, I don't know these message boarders personally - so I'm only guessing - but I reckon they aren't animals either. And that got me thinking: if '' means 'attributing human characteristics to animals', then what is the opposite of anthropomorphism? What word describes the attribution of animal characteristics to humans? (Non-thropomorphism? Man-thropomorphism? Thrippy-throppy-morphism?)
And the more I thought of Springwatch fans as a group of animals the more I wondered what the collective noun for a group of Springwatch fans might be. In my first blog I asked what individual Springwatch fans should be called (Springers, Springheads, Springsters - I'd still love to know your suggestions), but now I'm wondering what the collective noun for a group of Springwatch fans might be.
You know what I mean. A group of whales is called a pod. Sheep are a herd. Crows are a murder. Baboons are a congress. Jellyfish form a smack. Coots form a cover. Polecats form a chiver. So what's a group of Springwatch fans called? A clutch? A curiousity? A party? A collective? An audience?
Here's a fairly exhaustive to inspire you. Send in your ideas!
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