29 November 2012
I was walking along a short beach yesterday and I noticed a seagull flying above my head. In fact there were many a seagull flying about it. You could say that they were a flock of seagulls, not to be confused with a mad haired nineteen eighties synth pop/new wave band, because flying keyboards have not been invented yet.
I wondered, why is it that seagulls and sheep roam in flocks but yet a group of cows is called a herd as is groups of elephants and this applies to collectives of most other hoofed animal?. Sheep appear to be the exception, although I am not sure what type of feet they have.
What is even stranger, I realised, is that a collective of geese is known as a gaggle, however geese can also be referred to as a flock. The eighties band I mentioned earlier, collectively, they really can be referred to as a flock too.
I conclude as a result of my findings that the term 'flock' is a pointless word made up, because some one who had nothing better to do got sick of calling groups of things that have no similarities other than being in a group, 'a group of'.
And I Ran, I Ran So Far Away • Opuss № I