A group of squid is called a ...

For the record, squid come in shoals. Not quite as good as a squad. But still nicely alliterative.

Via Craig McClain

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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MORE: cephalopods • names • oceans • Science • squid

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charming.quark

The name of my next band is Squid Squad.
Rich Keller

But, language evolves, dammit! We can make this happen!
- http://noadi.etsy.com/ Sheryl Westleigh
  
  Yes! People should absolutely start using squad as the collective term and get it accepted as common usage.
mappo

For the record, squid come in shoals
That does it, no more swimming in shoals anymore.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher

I saw the headline and then the large black mark directly underneath it, so, naturally, I thought, oh, okay, a group of squids is called…a big black mark? Did the squids ink all over it? If so I assume one then yelled, “Well pardon my anatomy!”
http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33

Some groups of animals have cool names… I think the best might be a “murder” of crows. A shrewdness of apes is kind of neat. A congregation of alligators.An obstinacy of bison. A clattering of Chough. A consortium of crab. A gang of deer…. I’m much more nervous of having deer in my back yard now… Sorry. I could go on for days, cause these are great. Can we do this with human beings too? Can we call it an archive of historians, for example?

EDIT: Okay, sorry, one more – a marmalade of ponies. One more time, that’s a marmalade of ponies.
- http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33
  
  And is this post secretly a cat and girl cartoon, because ti feels like a cat and girl cartoon.
- Comrade7
  
  mmm… pony marmalade…
  - http://lemoutan.blogspot.com/ Lemoutan
    
    On toast
- http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher
  
  You’ve probably heard this joke, but in case you haven’t, three English scholars are walking down a street and happen to pass a group of ladies of the evening. They begin speculating as to what such a group should be called. “A jam of tarts?” suggests one. The second says, “Perhaps an essay of Trollopes.” The third says, “No, gentlemen, what we saw was a blare of strumpets.”
  - http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33
    
    Someone else linked to that joke below… in that version the punchline was “an anthology of pros”….
Mitchell Glaser

Go ahead and call them a squad. I mean, who is this self-appointed group that decides what common usage will be? And remember what happened to Santorum. If you say it often enough, Google will make you the winner.
- http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33
  
  An archive of historians it is then. MAKE THIS HAPPEN, INTERNET!!!!
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=781965222 Ken Breadner
    
    And a whorde of prostitutes.
http://www.facebook.com/kenbod Ken Anderson

The term really should be a Cthulhu of squid.
- http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33
  
  You win the internet. Please pick it up from the last person who won it.
http://www.avoision.com/ avoision

Looking at all the different collective nouns out there is pretty fun.

On a related note, a friend of mine has done some custom illustrations of various collective nouns. My favorite one is an obstinacy of buffaloes.
- http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33
  
  Nice art.
  
  An argumentation of historians? No. Archive.
- Friendly_Stranger
  
  Glad you like it! My personal favourite is a clowder of cats.
wreckrob8

Surely that should be squool of squid.
http://msmith13.wordpress.com/ Mark

Alliterative? “A shoal of shquid?” Nope, I still don’t see it.
allium

Seems like an appropriate place to unleash this old groaner.
- http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33
  
  Pretty good… pretty good.
tylerdurden

Too bad it’s not on here or it could have been settled quickly.
Gutierrez

She saw squid shoals in the sea soar?
Henry Pootel

What’s a group of sherpas called? I was thinking “shemp” would be good, but I think that’s more appropriate for a group of knuckleheads.
http://profile.yahoo.com/27AVARYZZCWA72RICRAGAXGB7Y Paul

More importantly, why is the collective noun for bankers not a wunch?
- http://lemoutan.blogspot.com/ Lemoutan
  
  It is
http://pocketprogressive.org Uncle Geo

I’m looking at a posse of wild turkeys out my office window right now -which I know from this nice long list (which, unfortunately, has not been updated to include a binder of women): http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Pointless/AnimalGroups.html
Ansvars Bud

where is the alliteration in a shoal of squid?
eviladrian

I’m pretty sure the collective noun for anything is a “holheapa”

“That’s a holheapa squid, Bob!”
BillStewart2012

Is your source for “shoals” a British or American usage? Americans refer to large groups of fish as “schools”, while Brits refer to them as “shoals”, thus the Red Dwarf theme song refers to “goldfish shoals nibbling at my toes”.
http://jello-bomb.tumblr.com/ Jello

Ah, the shame of being outed for stealing a popular text post from tumblr and posting it on facebook.
ari bieler

I’m not sure shoal and squid constitute an alliteration. /sh/ and /s/ are different sounds, just as /th/ and /t/ are different sounds.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Greg-Tulonen/825866838 Greg Tulonen

I’m partial to “a sleuth of bears.”
sommelier

It’s more often called an audience of squid.