Writers, I have found, love to use these "collective nouns" in much the same way I'm sure a woodworker would enjoy trying to build an intricate jewelry box, or a artist might like to try a new medium with which to work. Samples that most everyone can remember include:
- Murder of Crows
- Colony of Ants
- Coffle of Asses
- Troop of Baboons
The list could go on and on. What I think is so apropos about this is that I just highlighted a terrific, and I think completely original example in Les Miserables.
above the chimney piece hung a crucifix of copper, with the silver worn off, fixed on a background of threadbare velvet in a wooden frame from which the gilding had fallen; near the glass door a large table with an inkstand, laded with a confusion of papers and with huge volumes
I like that, "confusion of papers." First time I'd run across it.
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