A gaggle of geese, a pride of lions, a flock of sheep, a herd of cattle -- who decided we needed a different word for congregations of each different species?
by 
Jim in a Nautilus COAT
ANSWERS: 8
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I don't know but I want in. A murder of abortion doctor killers. An idiot of Rush Limbaugh followers. An evil of republican voters. A stupid of bible thumpers. See I can do this job.
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This reminds me of a great TV commercial that first ran during Super Bowl a few years ago. Maybe the same person who decided we needed different words came up with this:
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You left out the 'school of fish'. Do fish have schools?
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Vocabularians. A big ol' bunch of 'em.
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Generally, people who worked closely with whichever animal it was and needed words to describe them. However, many of these words are more than simple collectives. Putting a lot of lions together does no make a pride - a pride is a family unit. A gaggle of geese is a group flying in formation: a whole load of geese together on the ground is a flock, like most other birds. Flock is generally used for birds - I don't know why it has transferred to sheep - and a herd for most groups of quadrupeds that naturally gather into groups, such as zebras, wildebeeste etc.
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A couple of assholes
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I don't know but my favorite is an exultation of larks! :)
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You had an answer which explained the reasons for some of the differences. I think also, that different languages have something to do with it. A flock or herd can have a different word in different languages and that particular words have been used by folks of another language. I can see that as a possibility also. Some of my family members, etc. were talking about the different dialects of German where a century or more ago, there were several different dialects in just one small country. Also, people in Alabama and people in Maine would end up with different words for the same things if they did not have any contact or influence with each other for 100 years or so. (This actually has happened in the US in former times.)
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