"Collective nouns and homonyms"

Collective nouns & HOMONYMS

We are all familiar with  

a herd of cows

a herd of deer

a flock of chickens

a gaggle of geese

a pride of lions

However, there are less known collective nouns. They are often homonyms to the words used in everyday life.

In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings.

A school is a place for teaching and learning

a school of fish

A thunder is loud explosive sound in the air following the lightning.

a thunder of bisons

A troop is a group of soldiers.  

a troop of lions

A field is an open area of land without trees or buildings. 

a field of horses

Murder is the crime of deliberately killing a person.

a murder of crows

A train is a connected group of railroad cars.  

a train of camels

A coalition is a group of people, parties, or countries who have joined together for a common purpose. 

a coalition of cheetahs

An army is a large group of soldiers organized to fight battles on land. 

an army of ants

an army of caterpillars

A pack is a small paper or cardboard package in which small things are sold. 

a pack of wolves

A team is a group of people who compete in a sport, game, etc.

a team of oxen

A tower is a tall, narrow building or structure that may stand apart from or be attached to another building or structure. 

a tower of giraffes

A band is a usually small group of musicians who play popular music together  .

a band of gorillas

A crash is an accident in which a vehicle is seriously damaged or destroyed by hitting something.  

a crash of rhinoceroses

A constable is a police officer of the lowest rank.

a constable of ravens

A colony is an area that is controlled by or belongs to a country and is usually far away from 

a colony of penguins

Ballet is a kind of dancing that is performed on a stage and uses music, costumes, and scenery to tell a story  .

a ballet of swans

Business is the activity of making, buying, or selling goods or providing services in exchange for money. 

a business of ferrets

A raft is a flat structure that is used for floating or sailing on water.

a raft of ducks

A cloud is a white or grey mass in the sky that is made of many very small drops of water.

a cloud of bats

Charm is a quality that causes someone or something to be very likeable  .

a charm of hummingbirds

A parliament is the group of people who are responsible for making the laws.

Presumably because they look so wise: ,

a parliament of owls .

Congress is the group of people who are responsible for making the laws of a country.  

Now consider a group of Baboons.

Baboons are the loudest, most dangerous, aggressive and least intelligent of all primates. 

And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons?

a congress of baboons

Thank you for attention!