About 500 years ago, creating clever collective nouns for groups of animals, objects, and people was trendy, and some of those nouns of assemblage stuck. Learn the history of this quirk of the English language in today's classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/shrewdness-apes-collective-nouns-500-year-old-language-fad.htm

About 500 years ago, creating clever collective nouns for groups of animals, objects, and people was trendy, and some of those nouns of assemblage stuck. Learn the history of this quirk of the English language in today's classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/shrewdness-apes-collective-nouns-500-year-old-language-fad.htm

Whether the topic is popcorn or particle physics, you can count on BrainStuff to explore -- and explain -- the everyday science in the world around us.

BrainStuff

BrainStuff Classics: Why a Gaggle of Geese? Where Do Collective Nouns Come From?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/f1562700-da9d-41a5-b864-b2bf0176b320/transcript

The idea of General George Custer's deadly military blunder being a heroic last stand was constructed over decades to encourage U.S. colonization of the West. Learn how Anheuser-Busch helped in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/american-history/custers-last-stand.htm

The idea of General George Custer's deadly military blunder being a heroic last stand was constructed over decades to encourage U.S. colonization of the West. Learn how Anheuser-Busch helped in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/american-history/custers-last-stand.htm

How Did Beer Help Sell the Myth of Custer's Last Stand?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/8761597e-cde0-460f-a4c4-b44301790350/transcript

When organisms like fireflies, fungi, and fish glow with cold light, there's chemistry at work. Learn what we know (and don't know!) about bioluminescence -- including how humans are harnessing it -- in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/bioluminescence.htm/printable

When organisms like fireflies, fungi, and fish glow with cold light, there's chemistry at work. Learn what we know (and don't know!) about bioluminescence -- including how humans are harnessing it -- in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/bioluminescence.htm/printable

How Does Bioluminescence Work?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/0830c4ff-5cfb-4aea-8a3e-b44301790353/transcript

Around the year 1800, Swiss clockmaker Henri Maillardet created a mechanical doll that moves like a person as it produces drawings and poems with a pen on paper -- it's programmed for seven in total, without having any electrical parts. Learn how it and other automata work in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/maillardets-automaton.htm

Around the year 1800, Swiss clockmaker Henri Maillardet created a mechanical doll that moves like a person as it produces drawings and poems with a pen on paper -- it's programmed for seven in total, without having any electrical parts. Learn how it and other automata work in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/maillardets-automaton.htm

How Is Maillardet's Automaton Still Wowing Us After 200 Years?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/6df0eb48-2fb5-4314-8e48-b43d000f1ba1/transcript

BrainStuff Classics: Why a Gaggle of Geese? Where Do Collective Nouns Come From?

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