A new collective noun: "astonishment"

[Joel S. Berson]

I don't see the point of beating me over the head with *other*
collective nouns, real or pseudo-, such as "pride of lions", "murder
of crows", etc.  My astonishment was seeing one that was new to
me.  But thanks to Jon, I am now educated that it is not completely
original to Dargis.  Although I bet it has not been applied to
Pandorans before.

Joel

At 12/18/2009 07:42 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Google immediately shows "an astonishment of valentines" and "an
>astonishment of poets."
>
>GB has "She scorched him, too, with an astonishment of fires" from 1990.
>
>I'm pretty sure I read it before then, but solely as a literary metaphor.
>
>(Cf., of course, "an astonishment of riches").
>
>JL
>
>
>On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 5:00 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      A new collective noun: "astonishment"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >  From the New York Times review of James Cameron's "Avatar", Dec. 18,
> > by Manola Dargis:
> >
> > "The exotic creatures in 'Avatar,' which include an astonishment of
> > undulating, flying, twitching and galloping organisms,** don't just
> > crawl through the underbrush; they thunder and shriek, yip and hiss,
> > pointy teeth gleaming.
> >
> > An astonishment of Pandorans.*
> >     An "astonishment" can include more than just Na'vi, since
> > Dargis's next sentence is "The most important of these are the Na'vi
> > ...".***
> >
> > * There seems to be a battle between "Pandorans" and "Pandorians", at
> > present about 3:1 for "Pandorans".  I can't get far enough into the
> > "Official Web Site" (avatarmovie.com) to pass the movie bits and
> > reach text to confirm official usage.
> >
> > ** I'm somehow reminded of the recent NYTimes review of Humperdinck's
> > "Hansel and Gretel" at the Met -- describing it as a opera for
> > children about "hunger, kidnapping, cannibalism and witch burning."
> >
> > *** I note the classical plural, gender-free (a la "alumni" in
> > popular usage).  But the singular seems to be Na'vi also, at least in
> > Dargis's review (Jake operates a "10-foot, blue-skinned Na'vi body.")
> >
> >      But how does Dargis get away without musing on the analogy with
> > Pandora's box?  Or would that be a spoiler?  I haven't seen the film,
> > of course; but Dargis writes "Although 'Avatar' delivers a late kick
> > to the gut that might be seen as nihilistic (and how!), it is
> > strangely utopian."  Pandora's box is (its mines are?) opened, and
> > evils are let out into its world?
> >
> > Joel
> >
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>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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