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Photo: Murderer's row

Posted: January 12, 2012 - 1:05am
A murder of crows stand sentry at Sandy Beach on Tuesday.  Michael Penn / Juneau Empire
Michael Penn / Juneau Empire
A murder of crows stand sentry at Sandy Beach on Tuesday.

A murder of crows stand sentry at Sandy Beach on Tuesday.

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eddailey
425
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eddailey 01/12/12 - 08:20 am
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My opinion

Couldn't this comment "murder of crows" be more positive? It sounds so negative. Why could we say "a flock or group of crows standing guard or sentry" or something like that. I don't understand where the saying "murder of crows" came from. How old is this saying?

skirkz
6681
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skirkz 01/12/12 - 08:42 am
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As early as 1486.

The Book of Saint Albens contains that and other collective nouns for animals. (the movie was pretty good, too)

JNUKara
8598
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JNUKara 01/12/12 - 09:04 am
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I like

"a murder most fowl"................

skirkz
6681
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skirkz 01/12/12 - 09:24 am
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Yummy!

I've murdered a few fowl. I call it a 'harvest of fowl'. More palatable.

Persnickety Persimmon
4173
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Persnickety Persimmon 01/12/12 - 10:33 am
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@eddailey: it's an old term

@eddailey: it's an old term and it likely originates from the fact that the crow is an omen of death in many cultures.

It's only as negative as you want it to be.

El_Boorba
1424
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El_Boorba 01/12/12 - 10:52 am
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not a murder, a conspiracy of ravens.

Those are ravens, not crows.

Milspec.
2481
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Milspec. 01/12/12 - 10:59 am
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Collective nouns:

What is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons? Answer: a congress!
A few years ago this was quit fitting. In some cases even now.

Calypso
6877
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Calypso 01/12/12 - 11:41 am
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One of the craziest oddities

One of the craziest oddities of the English language is that there are so many different collective nouns that all mean "group" but which are specific to what particular thing there is a group of -

http://www.rinkworks (dot) com/words/collective.shtml

skirkz
6681
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skirkz 01/12/12 - 01:37 pm
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Not ravens.

Definitely crows.

skirkz
6681
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skirkz 01/12/12 - 01:48 pm
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A pace...

...of bloggers.
Don't forget a nag of wives and a jerk of husbands.

El_Boorba
1424
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El_Boorba 01/12/12 - 02:36 pm
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@skikz... definitely ravens...

Check the foreheads in the pic.

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/crows_and_ravens

An old guy once told me how to tell the difference... Shoot it. If you kill, it is a crow. If you miss, it is a raven. I am happy with the size/forehead/sound method.

skirkz
6681
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skirkz 01/12/12 - 03:02 pm
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Twig method

Smaller size (compare to twigs), shorter beaks, shorter tails... Crows.

Latitude58
14381
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Latitude58 01/12/12 - 07:50 pm
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It's crows

Definitely crows. Though the one on the left looks a little suspicious.

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