Collective Nouns

If only you could do this with a flock? of archers!

So, what do you call a group of archers?
In the past, certainly in military terminology, a Company of Archers has always been acceptable. However, its not the 15th century and Sunday morning archery does not involve shooting french people on horseback .. at least not very often!**

In the 21st century, we need a better collective noun, but what to call a group of archers?

Well if you want to get all classical – Sagittarii (plural of sagittarius) is the Latin term for archers. Sagittariorum in a unit name indicated a specialized archer regiment. Ok, study time over, lets get to the humour…

Sometimes, groups of cats are called a glaring. Following on from this logic, a complaint of archers might be appropriate as might a misery of archers. If it was only darksiders, it could be an excuse of compounders or for the more traditional, a lamentation of longbowmen.

The weather might have an effect on the noun as well. When archers are out in the freezing cold, an idiocy of archers seems appropriate or during pouring rain on a flooded field, it could quite logically be a squelch of archers.

For those of you who know your toxophilia … how about a paradox of archers. But, after some discussions, to sum us up best, we thought it should probably be an obsession of archers. It certainly would convey the same emotive mental image as a glaring of cats. However, if you can think of any better, please leave your suggestions in the comments. We’d love to see them.

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** During the 2012 Olympics, the French Cycling team made allegations about the British Cycling team who were dominating everyone. A British national newspaper suggested the British Archery team and the French Equestrian team should be “put at either end of a big field and let them resolve the matter”.

Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay