Are YOU Smarter Than a Sixth Grader?
Hanging out happily on the deck of my dear friends’ home this weekend, feasting on steak and salad, gazing up at a nearly cloudless sky, chatting about this and that.
I’ve known Sarah (Wallace of Channel 7 investigative reporting fame) and her husband, Harry (Martin, anchor of Channel 9 AND Channel 5 news….only guy I know who works at two stations and in two states!) for a long time. Sarah and I go way back to Sacramento television days.
Sitting at the table with us, their remarkable, beautiful son, James. What a treasure. He’s in the sixth grade, and is so smart and engaging, so sweet, it hurts.
So there we are, just enjoying the day, when James points at the sky and says, “Look. A flock of birds in formation.” We all look.
Naturally, being reporters, our first reaction is, “ Bird strike.” But we quickly snap out of our cynical reporter mode and observe, with James, the beauty of nature.
James proceeds to tell us the reason a formation of flying geese seems to get a bit wobbly at times, is because there is no ONE leader. The geese take turns being lead-goose. And they change places mid-flight. I didn’t know that!
Which got us on the topic of the correct terminology for groups of birds or animals. For example, we all know it’s a ‘gaggle’ of geese, a ‘herd’ of elephants, a ‘clown-car' of pigs.” Oh, it’s NOT a clown-car of pigs? Well, it should be.
Anyway, we were surprised at how specific these terms are! Do you know what a gathering of crows is called? I didn’t until James told us.
It's a MURDER of crows. Love to know how that evolved!
A QUORUM of ravens
A CONVOCATION of eagles.
A SLEUTH of bears!
Did you know that?
Want to guess a few? They are all quite colorful and unexpected. Though, being smarter than I, you probably already know the answers. I fully acknowledge that when it comes to certain things, I am NOT smarter than a sixth grader!
Okay, here goes: It's....
1) A__________________of penguins
2) A__________________of lions
3) A__________________of cats
4) A__________________of frogs
5) A__________________of monkeys
6) A__________________of turkeys
7) A__________________of swans
That's enough to start with. Fun, right? The things we learn from 12 year olds! Thanks, James.
BTW, I will have the answers tomorrow on another blog. So try to restrain yourself from looking them up! That would be acting like an uncontrolled 'clown-car of pigs'! (the actual term for a group of pigs is DRIFT. ) Who knew?!
Comments: 2118
No, I am NOT smarter than a 6th grader,... but I'm smart enough to know it!
A group of photographers, paparazzi...
"A group of photographers, paparazzi..."
good one, but limited to those who chase the famous people
White House Press Corp, groupies...
9. Hi Kaity
Wow an interactive blog!!, here goes nothing:
a waddle of penguins;
a pride of lions;
a litter of cats;
a troop of monkeys;
a gang of turkeys;
a gargle of swans.
(6 out of 7 Not too shabby)
As for a group of frogs, How about a lady who had a real bad day finding her prince?
I know a group of pigs is called a farrow but i will check out a "drift" of pigs.
Good one Kaity. Most impressed with comment by Nash. Wow. I'm obviously not smarter than a 6th grader cuz I don't know most of the answers! But I know other stuff. That's what happens when you get older. You forget the important things and remember when your next mortgage payment is due!!!
What a pointless blog
Nice job Kaity. Is Nash correct?
Hi Kaity I loved the blog and i will have more fun facts down the road. The reason why the geese take turns is because they get tired and they follow each others jet paths so that they don't have to flap their wings!
I love this blog and almost all your blogs. You've a fertile mind and engaging outlook on life. Keep up the great work and don't stop blogging.
Add to Nash's impressive list: An army of frogs.
Nice job by all - especially Kaity, for posing this blog, risking the frost of "kool" folk.
Note, though, that tomorrow's 6th graders will need to be more adept at quickly finding the answers than memorizing them. Even today, another question should be: "Are you as smart as a 6th grader in finding the answers on the 'net?"
But more interestingly important than such trivia would be whence these different collective terms arose and why.
Thanks for all the comments. Rod, good point about finding out 'from whence these different collective terms arose and why." I refer you to a book by James Lipton entitled "An Exaltation of Larks" I believe it's called. Very informative.
Actually James knew EXACTLY where to go to find the answers to any questions...the computer!
Thanks for all the comments. Rod, good point about finding out 'from whence these different collective terms arose and why." I refer you to a book by James Lipton entitled "An Exaltation of Larks" I believe it's called. Very informative.
Actually James knew EXACTLY where to go to find the answers to any questions...the computer!
I spent the day with a sixth grader and he learned from me and I learned from him. At the tender age of eleven, his interests ranged from aquatic wild life to Egyptian pyramids. He was well versed on the topics because they were of interest to him. The newest topic we discussed was the earliest histories of China and Japan, war lords, emperors, the whole pool of info that goes with it. Am I smarter than a sixth grader? Well, it all depends on the topic of the conversation at that given moment. I know a lot more about literature, math, history, science, and of course cooking, cleaning, and taxes than he does, but right now I let him be the expert. I don't want to discourage his inquisitive mind and I don't want to stop learning about things he can share with me.
Thanks Kaity for your reply with the reference to James Lipton's book. What a treasure trove! Among its almost 1200 entries (THE definitive source of "terms of venery" - more comprehensive than anything I've found online):
a pan of food critics;
a scoop of reporters;
a click of photographers;
a peek of gossip columnists;
a pique of political columnists;
a platitude of sportswriters;
a query of checkers;
a caprice of assignment editors;
a penultimatum of managing editors;
an ultimatum of executive editors.
He also answers my "whence" question (the lists started in the 1400s England in "The Egerton Manuscript" and "The Book of St. Albans" referring mainly to names of groups of game animals). However Lipton doesn't really address my "why" question. I guess answering that question will require more research.
Jim is blocking people from his blog site and this is very unfair. Some very nice people would like to blog on there, but I have heard a lot of complaints about the Watkins blog block. Please see what you can do Kaity. Thank you...Lee
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