[Ads-l] waddle

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Nice work on an entertaining collective noun, JL. It appears that the
year for the Red Smith citation was 1961 instead of 1964.
The sometimes reliable Wikipedia has "waddling" for a group of ducks on land.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animal_names#Usage_of_collective_nouns
Garson

On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 10:58 AM Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 2021 _New Yorker_ (Jan. 25) 4: A group of penguins in the water is called a
> raft - on land, they become a waddle.
>
> OED has "raft" for aquatic birds from 1709, but no "waddle" of anything.
> How little know they of our native tongue!
>
> 1963 Red Smith, in _Philadelphia Inquirer_ (Jan. 18) 37: Mr. Lillis
> imported a waddle of penguins who lined up at the clubhouse gate in their
> snappy thermal attire and were the first clients admitted.
>
> 2004  Richard Spilsbury and Louise Spilsbury _A Rookery of Penguins_
> (Chicago: Heinemann) 29:  What is a waddle of penguins? Some people call a
> group of penguins a waddle, because of the way they walk.
>
> Smith was a popular, widely syndicated sports columnist. Many zoo people
> must have read this column.
>
> JL
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org