Shrewdness of Apes

This morning’s discussion with Nan concerning the etymology of “murder of crows” led to this search. The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center and the San Diego Zoo are the most fun.

Then I went and looked up “murder” in the OED, only to find that for the “group of crows” sense, there are references from the 1400s and the 1900s and nothing inbetween. For etymology, they basically said “we have no clue — maybe because crows are associated with murder?” I would have liked it better if they’d made something up so I could feel like I learned something.

Blogs are for sharing.