Search: fesnyng etymology
Why: A group of ferrets is called a fesnyng, apparently. (Also, a group of ravens is called an unkindness.)
Answer: A ferret enthusiast says:
A collective name for them is fesnyng - a very strange word and I've heard that it came from misreading the word fesynes in Middle English and that word does, in fact, mean busy-ness!Wikipedia says that's a transcription error: "besynys" became "fesynes" instead of "busy-ness."
Also, I find this weird little note in The History of 'Probability' (?) that says:
chance [from late Latin cadentia "falling," from Latin cadere "to fall"]A fesnyng of frendschip sounds nice.
- The falling out or happening of events; the way in which things fall out. 1528 (More) As he would haue made ye contrary choyse, if had forsene in them the contrary chaunce.
- A happening or occurrence of things in a particular way; a casual or fortuitous circumstance. 1375 (Barbour) Fesnyng of frendschip and of pess, That neuir for na chanss suld cess.
Source: All-About-Ferrets
The More You Know: (A ____ joke:) A group of collective noun specialists in a pub observed a group of prostitutes. They came up with the following:
- A jam of tarts
- A flourish of strumpets
- An anthology of English pros
