APPRECIATION #89: SPEAKING OF COLLECTIVE NOUNS

This is a partial continuation of Appreciation #79. 

I found my copy of An Exaltation of Larks, and I’ve been listening to the news. I just heard a conversation between Stephen Colbert and Trever Noah where they were discussing Hillary Clinton’s use of the term “BASKET OF DEPLORABLES” to refer to Donald Trump supporters. Noah said he thought the basket part of the phrase was the most offensive. He suggested that if she said Tupperware it wouldn’t have been as bad.

I realized, listening to that, that the term is a collective noun. Or, something. There is some debate on what to call terms like this. This is from the beginning of An Exaltation of Larks, a compilation of such terms:

The explorer in this field will find these words referred to as “nouns of multitude,” “company terms,” “nouns of assemblage,” “collective nouns,” “group terms,” and “terms of venery.”

Clinton called Trump supporters a “basket of deplorables.” Last election, Mitt Romney referred to having “binders of women.” Go ahead and make up your own nouns of multitude.

LET’S PLAY:

1. _________________ OF DEPLORABLES
2. _________________ OF WOMEN
3. _________________ OF STUDENTS
4. _________________ OF TEACHERS
5. _________________ OF DEMOCRATS
6. _________________ OF REPUBLICANS