{"product_id":"an-exaltation-of-larks-isbn-9780140170962","title":"An Exaltation of Larks","description":"\u003cb\u003eA delightfully unexpected, lovingly curated ode to the unique collective nouns that adorn our language, from \u003cb\u003e“a leap of leopards\u003cb\u003e” to \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e“a murder of crows\u003cb\u003e” and beyond, from the inimitable voice behind Inside the Actors Studio\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I am madly in love with collective nouns! They make language so colorful and ticklish. . . . [\u003ci\u003eAn Exaltation of Larks\u003c\/i\u003e] possess[es] an embarrassment of riches (wink wink!).” —Lupita Nyong’o, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor those who have wondered if the familiar “pride of lions” and “gaggle of geese” were merely the tip of a linguistic iceberg, James Lipton has provided a definitive answer: here are hundreds of equally pithy, often poetic terms he has unearthed and collected into one exhaustive volume. Over years of painstaking research, he embarked on an odyssey that has given us a “slouch of models,” a “shrivel of critics,” an “unction of undertakers,” a “blur of Impressionists,” a “score of bachelors,” a “pocket of quarterbacks,” and many more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWitty, beautiful, and remarkably apt, \u003ci\u003eAn Exaltation of Larks\u003c\/i\u003e is a brilliant compendium of more than 1,100 resurrected or newly minted contributions to that ever-evolving species, the English language.\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI. The Beginning\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eII. The Known\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIII. The Unknown\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIV. The Unexpected\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eV. The Game of Venery: First Move \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003ePeople, Places and Things\u003cbr\u003eProfessions\u003cbr\u003eHome and Family\u003cbr\u003eDaily Life\u003cbr\u003eHigh Life\u003cbr\u003eLow Life\u003cbr\u003eRomance and Raunch\u003cbr\u003eMedicine and Health\u003cbr\u003eAcademe\u003cbr\u003eScience and Technology\u003cbr\u003eSports\u003cbr\u003eGames and Recreation\u003cbr\u003eMusic\u003cbr\u003eStage\u003cbr\u003eScreen\u003cbr\u003eArts and Letters\u003cbr\u003eReligion\u003cbr\u003ePolitics and Law\u003cbr\u003eJournalism\u003cbr\u003eBusiness and Finance\u003cbr\u003eTravel\u003cbr\u003eCops and Robbers\u003cbr\u003eThe Armed Services\u003cbr\u003eZoology\u003cbr\u003eCases in Point\u003cbr\u003eAfterword\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eVI. The Game of Venery: Second Move\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eIndex\u003c\/p\u003e“I am madly in love with collective nouns! They make language so colorful and ticklish. . . . [\u003ci\u003eAn Exaltation of Larks\u003c\/i\u003e] possess[es] an embarrassment of riches (wink wink!).”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Lupita Nyong’o, The New York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“James Lipton has performed all speakers of English a great service. If there were an English Academy, he would surely deserve election.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Raymond Sokolov, \u003ci\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A great, great gift book . . . that you will end up keeping for yourself.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Neil Simon\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A clap of hands, a chorus of approval, a hint of envy.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Larry Gelbart\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eJames Lipton\u003c\/b\u003e was the creator, executive producer, writer, and host of \u003ci\u003eInside the Actors Studio\u003c\/i\u003e, which has been seen in eighty-nine million homes in America and in 125 countries and has received fourteen Emmy nominations. He was the author of the novel \u003ci\u003eMirrors\u003c\/i\u003e, which he then adapted and produced for the screen, and of the American literary perennial \u003ci\u003eAn Exaltation of Larks\u003c\/i\u003e, and has written the book and lyrics of two Broadway musicals. He was a vice president of the Actors Studio and the founder and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University, he received three honorary PhDs, France’s \u003ci\u003eChevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres\u003c\/i\u003e, and has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.\u003cb\u003ePart II: The Known\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e This list contains some of the terms of venery that are a part of our living speech. Many of them are as old as the terms in Parts III and IV, but since we still use them, I have separated them from their brothers and sisters.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e They may be so familiar that we say or read them without thinking: they have lost their poetry for us. But step back for a moment from some of these familiar terms—A PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS, A PRIDE OF LIONS, A LITTER OF PUPS (plague! pride! \u003ci\u003elitter!\u003c\/i\u003e)—and perhaps their aptness and daring will reappear.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e So with all the terms in this part: we begin on familiar ground, to sharpen our senses by restoring the magic to the mundane.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ***\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A SCHOOL OF FISH\u003cbr\u003e As noted earlier, \u003ci\u003eschool \u003c\/i\u003ewas a corruption of \u003ci\u003eshoal\u003c\/i\u003e, a term still in use for specific fish. C. E. Hare, in \u003ci\u003eThe Language of Field Sports\u003c\/i\u003e, quotes John Hodgkin on this term arguing that \u003ci\u003eschool \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eshoal \u003c\/i\u003eare in fact variant spellings of the same word, but Eric Partridge, I think correctly, sees them coming from two different roots, the former from ME \u003ci\u003escole\u003c\/i\u003e, deriving from the Latin \u003ci\u003eschola\u003c\/i\u003e, a school, and the latter from the OE \u003ci\u003esceald\u003c\/i\u003e, meaning shallow. I think it is obvious that in the lexicon of venery \u003ci\u003eshoal\u003c\/i\u003e was meant and \u003ci\u003eschool \u003c\/i\u003eis a corruption.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A CATCH OF FISH\u003cbr\u003e Deceased.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A PACK OF DOGS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A LITTER OF PUPS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A MONTH OF SUNDAYS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A MOUNTAIN OF DEBT\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A HILL OF BEANS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A DOSE OF SALTS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A PRIDE OF LIONS\u003cbr\u003e One of the oldest venereal terms, antedating even the English lists in the French \u003ci\u003elyons orgeuilleux\u003c\/i\u003e. The earliest English manuscript, \u003ci\u003eEgerton\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Book of St. Albans\u003c\/i\u003e both have \u003ci\u003ea Pryde of Lyons\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A HERD OF ELEPHANTS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A NEST OF VIPERS\u003cbr\u003e Also, \u003ci\u003egeneration of vipers\u003c\/i\u003e, Jesus’s characterization of the multitude that came to be baptized. “O \u003ci\u003egeneration of vipers\u003c\/i\u003e, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” \u003ci\u003eLuke, 3:7\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A BARREL OF MONKEYS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A FIELD OF RACEHORSES\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A HERD OF HORSES\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A STRING OF PONIES\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A BROOD OF HENS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A RUN OF POULTRY\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A FLOCK OF SHEEP\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A TEAM OF OXEN\u003cbr\u003e Dating from the fifteenth century \u003ci\u003eHarley Manuscript\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A CLOUD OF GRASSHOPPERS (\u003ci\u003eOr\u003c\/i\u003e GNATS)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A SWARM OF BEES\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A NEST OF WASPS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A COLONY OF ANTS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e AN ARMY OF CATERPILLARS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A BUNCH OF GRAPES\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A HAND OF BANANAS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A SHEAF OF WHEAT\u003cbr\u003e Sheaves are stalks of grain tied together.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A SHOCK OF CORN\u003cbr\u003e A shock is a pile of sheaves of grain or stalks of corn propped in a field. See \u003ci\u003ethrave of threshers\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A BENCH OF JUDGES\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A COLLEGE OF CARDINALS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A BOARD OF TRUSTEES\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A FIELD OF RUNNERS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A GANG OF LABORERS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A LINE OF SOVEREIGNS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e AN ORDER OF PEERS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A COVEN OF WITCHES (FEMALE)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A CONGERIES OF WITCHES (MALE)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A GATHERING OF CLANS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A POSSE OF VIGILANTES\u003cbr\u003e From the Latin \u003ci\u003eposse comitatus\u003c\/i\u003e, power of the county, those citizens subject to callup by an English sheriff in times of trouble. In America’s Old West the term—and custom—were given considerable latitude.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A BEVY OF BEAUTIES\u003cbr\u003e This is one of the few terms of venery whose origin is uncertain. Hodgkin says, “There is no satisfactory etymology for the word ‘bevy.’” Partridge marks it o.o.o.—of obscure origin; but hazards the guess that it derives from the Old French \u003ci\u003ebevée\u003c\/i\u003e, a drink or drinking.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A BAND OF MEN\u003cbr\u003e Hence also \u003ci\u003eband \u003c\/i\u003efor a group of musicians.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A SLATE OF CANDIDATES\u003cbr\u003e Doubtless deriving from the time when nominees’ names were chalked on one.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A CONSTITUENCY OF VOTERS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A COLLEGE OF ELECTORS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A CONGREGATIO OF PEOPLE\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A PASSEL OF BRATS\u003cbr\u003e An American term, of course. Donald Adams went looking for this one, finding it finally in \u003ci\u003eWentworth’s American Dialect Dictionary\u003c\/i\u003e as “hull passel of young ones,” “a passel o’ hogs,” etc., but no etymology is given. A Southern friend assures me, however, that \u003ci\u003epassel \u003c\/i\u003eis simply “parcel” in a regional dialect.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A HOST OF ANGELS\u003cbr\u003e An interesting term this. J. Donald Adams, in \u003ci\u003eThe Magic and Mystery of Words\u003c\/i\u003e, says, ‘‘Angels in any quantity may be referred to only as a host. The word’s title to that distinction is clear enough; \u003ci\u003ehost\u003c\/i\u003e derives from the Latin \u003ci\u003ehostis\u003c\/i\u003e, meaning enemy, and hence came to mean an army. It was presumably applied to angels as the warriors of God.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A HAIL OF GUNFIRE\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A FUSILLADE OF BULLETS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A NEST OF MACHINE GUNS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A BARRAGE OF SHELLS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A BAPTISM OF FIRE\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A QUIVER OF ARROWS\u003cbr\u003e At the beginning of this section, I suggested we step back from these familiar terms, to experience them anew. This candidate for reevaluation can be found as a quiver of arrows in Psalters dated as early as 1300; which tells us that more than seven hundred years ago someone, who could have used the familiar thirteenth-century words case or scabbard, arbitrarily and whimsically turned quiver into a noun—and a timeless portrait of an arrow trembling in its target.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A CHORUS OF COMPLAINT\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A TISSUE OF LIES\u003cbr\u003e Also, \u003ci\u003epack\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A DEN OF THIEVES\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A CAN OF WORMS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A HEAD OF STEAM\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A FLEET OF SHIPS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A SET OF CHINA\u003cbr\u003e Since, as noted on the preceding page, the purpose of this section is to restore the magic to the mundane by reexamining words we take for granted, let’s see what happens when we put our magnifying glass over the \u003ci\u003ecommonest \u003c\/i\u003eof these common terms, \u003ci\u003eset\u003c\/i\u003e. Any surprises? Yes: the Oxford English Dictionary devotes 23 pages to the word! “The complete collection of the ‘pieces’ composing a suite of furniture, a service of china, a clothing outfit, or the like,” descended from the Old French \u003ci\u003esette\u003c\/i\u003e, is there, as is \u003ci\u003ea set of badgers\u003c\/i\u003e (q.v.)—but so are hundreds of other definitions, nuances, roots and tributaries. The point of this note is that the intrepid semanticist in search of any word’s meaning may find himself hacking his way through an Amazonian jungle of possibilities. And that, as every page of this book attests, is the great and everlasting glory of the vast, supple, subtle English language.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A PEAL OF BELLS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A FLIGHT OF STAIRS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A PATTER OF FOOTSTEPS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A ROUND OF DRINKS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A ROPE OF PEARLS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A BOUQET OF FLOWERS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e AN EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A CONSTELLATION OF STARS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A PENCIL OF LINES\u003cbr\u003e A proper contemporary group term in mathematics.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A BILL OF PARTICCLARS\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A MESS OF POTTAGE","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300136210661,"sku":"NP9780140170962","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780140170962.jpg?v=1767721505","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/an-exaltation-of-larks-isbn-9780140170962","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}