Are you putting all your eggs in one basket?

I wasn’t sure whether it was a conspiracy, treachery, or just plain unkindness.

I could have even been witnessing a rave!

As an intrepid copywriter with an interest in words, I decided it was time to find out. 🔍

Yes, my dear reader, today we are talking about… bird-related collective nouns.

And it just so happens that all the above are some oddly poetic terms for….

A group of Ravens!

Now, most of us have heard the collective terms ‘a murder of Crows’ or ‘a parliament of Owls’, but I thought it was a little unfair to liken Ravens, such highly intelligent members of the Crow family, to an unkindness, but apparently it’s down to some historical folklore, bad press/fake news.

It’s been around a while, folks!

Anyhow, some more quainter bird-related collective nouns I came across were:

🪶 A chime of Wrens
🪶 A charm of Goldfinches
🪶 A water dance of Grebes
🪶 A bevvy of Larks
🪶 A richness of Martins
🪶 A contradiction of Sandpipers!

There are lots more, but I’ll leave those for another day!

So why am I sharing this with you?

Well, as I said, these aren’t the only collective nouns for birds; some have several, and naming conventions can vary depending on different factors such as location, history, or language, to name a few.

In other words, what we term something might be different to what others commonly term them. Especially when it comes to our intended business and customer audiences.

Because, let’s face it, in business communications, not all jargon is equal.

We have different colloquial terms, dialects, shared history (or not) and cultures to contend with – and that’s before we get on to terms that might be lost in translation.

(Okay, so maybe I did just want to make a post about our flighty, feathered friends.)

But seriously, I bet there’s terminology you apply in your business communications that doesn’t necessarily ‘fly well’ across borders, maybe some archaic words have already ‘fled the nest’, or maybe your birds of a feather, really do flock together and have been applied for aeons, and everyone, everywhere understands what you mean?

Hmm. It’s possible.

But if you really want to get your message across to the right people, at the right time, a little birdie told me it’s worth considering hiring a professional who understands cross-cultural communication and can, if need be, transcreate accordingly.

If you’re a multi-cultural or transnational company that needs professional native English copywriting services, you really can metaphorically kill two birds with one stone. Simply by getting in touch with us today.

Beats putting all your eggs in one basket! 🧺