A pubful of dads . . .

 

A pubful of dads . . .

One day, with a class of 7-year-olds, I talked about collective nouns and the children became quite excited and started making up their own. I wish I had noted them all, for they were imaginative, but the one that stuck in my head was ‘a pubful of dads.’

'Two pints of your best, please, Landlord'

The latest post box topper marks Fathers’ Day, which was 16^th June.

I wonder if the next – if there will be a next – will celebrate the local biennial carnival, the election, the Olympics, or something else entirely.

Penguins Two

It seems that penguins are the theme for me today. Some penguins, like the Adelie penguins, mate for life while others, like the Emperor penguins, are serially monogamous. For some penguins, the Humboldts for example, there is a degree of same sex activity, even though there may be sufficient partners of the opposite sex to choose from.

The following video clip shows Adelie, Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins in Antarctica. Some sections have been speeded up.

The second video is an information animation designed for children but we can all learn from it;-)

There are many collective nouns for penguins: colony, creche, formality, huddle, parade, parcel, rookery and waddle. If I had to make up a collective noun I'd choose 'a perfection of penguins.' What would you choose?

I've just read the following in a recent copy of our Community magazine.
Do you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins to be seen in Antarctica? If a penguin is found dead, members of the colony dig a hole in the ice, using beaks and wings. When the hole is deep enough the dead penguin is rolled into it and buried. Then the penguins gather round in a circle and sing, 'Freeze a jolly good fellow, freeze a jolly good fellow . . . '

Don't believe everything you read . . . ;-)