Topic

Saturday Grammar Lesson: The Rook!

Disclaimer: I thought I'd type this up for no particular reason other than that I see we're using the term "The Rook" a lot, and perhaps there are some players out there like myself who are interested in learning the correct way to refer to them when typing or talking. This is in no way a lecture, and I am not a "Grammar Nazi", I will not correct you on your use of collective nouns outside of this thread. Enjoy!

A noun is a part of grammar designating a person, place, or thing. Collective nouns are a special type of noun that name groups of persons, places, or things. For example, President Obama is a person (a noun, proper noun to be specific) and the Senate is a collective noun (the group of persons who form a Senate).

Collective nouns aren't used very commonly to refer to non-human entities, but there are lots of them. A commonly known example would be a pride of lions. Here's a quick list of some other examples:

•A flock of birds
•A brood of hens
•A gaggle of geese
•An unkindness of ravens
•An army of frogs
•A den of vipers
•A culture of bacteria
•An intrusion of cockroaches
•A thicket of trees
•A herd of cattle
•A file of civil servants
•A banner of knights
•A cast of merlins
•A crèche of penguins

The difficulties with collective nouns begin when you start to refer to them in sentences. Would you say "The team showers after its tough game," or "The team showers after their tough game."? The answer is in what you want to portray. In the first example (its) the team is said to be shower together as a whole(in other words, the entire team is showering)In the second (their) the team showers as individuals(some of the team may not be showering). The difference is subtle, but important nonetheless depending on what it is you want to convey to your readers.

The odd part about The Rook in Glitch is that we don't actually know what the individual members of The Rook are called. A rook in real life is a member of the crow family, indigenous to Europe and Asia, and belongs to the genus Corvus, commonly known as ravens. Rooks are known collectively by at least four different terms including building, parliament, clamour, and (awesomely) storytelling. Since those terms aren't used in Glitch there is no deducible way to divide The Rook into smaller subsections as we could if they were called "The Parliament"; this forces us to always talk about The Rook as a collective. So, when referring to The Rook as a whole we would say something like "The Rook is attacking!" or "The Rook is attacking Yan Jaggery!" If however, you're talking about The Rook attacking something specific you should say "The Rook are attacking my pigs!" or "The Rook are killing all our trees!" since not all of The Rook is attacking that pig or tree. If you were to write "The Rook is attacking my pigs!" you would basically be saying that every individual bird is attacking your pig, in which case I pity your poor pig!

I hope you've enjoyed our little jaunt through the difficult street of collective nouns. Perhaps another lesson next week? We'll see! Until then, PARTY ON GLITCHENS!

P.S. I'm going on a 50-mile hike in Glacier National Park starting tomorrow, so I won't be able to play the next test! It's the only sad part about this trip, and I was tempted to cancel so I could play, I love this game so much! Have fun for me fellow Glitchens!

P.P.S. For a more in-depth analysis read the wikipedia article!

Posted 16 months ago by Skwid Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Thanks, Skwid.

    "Rooks are known collectively by at least four different terms including building, parliament, clamour, and (awesomely) storytelling." Wow, sometimes I wish English was my native language.
    Posted 16 months ago by Ximenez Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 for collective nouns

    I also direct folks to "The Parliament of Rooks" from Neil Gaiman's Sandman.
    Posted 16 months ago by Lord Bacon-o Subscriber! | Permalink
  • What if it's ONE Rook attacking my pigs, but I want to use a definite article to specify a Rook individual is attacking my pigs?

    "There is a Rook individual at my house! And you know what, the Rook is attacking my pigs!"

    I couldn't use a plural verb, because it's just one Rook, but if I used an indefinite article, it would leave some question as to whether the Rook at my house is the same one that is attacking my pigs.

    Grammar! It's fun!
    Posted 16 months ago by Heyoheya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • several Rooks ...... reeks
    Posted 16 months ago by napabeth Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My husband just suggested that I say, "Birds is attackin'!"

    :D
    Posted 16 months ago by Heyoheya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Heyoheya Unfortunately Glitch hasn't told us what the individual members of The Rook are actually called. They do appear to be rooks, but if that were the case then they should be referred to by one of the accepted collective nouns for rooks. TS has specifically stated that "The Rook" is a collective noun though, so if the birds in The Rook are actual rooks, then all TS has done is confuse us all with the use of Rook as a collective noun, which defeats the purpose of creating collective nouns in the first place. It's like saying "the player" when you mean "the team" it just doesn't work. You wouldn't say "The Player took a shower after their epic win!" it just doesn't make sense.

    There is no reason to assume that members of The Rook are actually rooks, they could be crows, or any member of the raven genus that happen to call themselves collectively The Rook. I'm not an ornithologist, so I can't tell based on the animations, so we can't refer to them all as rooks. Until they do tell us what an individual in The Rook is called your example, "There is a Rook individual at my house! And you know what, the Rook is attacking my pigs!" would have to be reworded to use the collective term The Rook and would look like: "The Rook are at my house, and you know what? The Rook are attacking my pigs!"
    Posted 16 months ago by Skwid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like, The Rooks are attacking my pigs! Etc, or A Rook is attacking me!
    and I thought I had time on my hands LOL!!! WOW! so indepth!!
    Posted 16 months ago by Princess Zircon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I didn't know about a "storytelling" of rooks.  That _is_ awesome

    It's a murder of crows.
    Posted 16 months ago by Tradescantia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Princess Zircon Thanks! I just got curious here at work and started reading up on collective nouns. Since people seem to really like the idea of referring to The Rook individually I might be persuaded to refer to individuals as "rooks" (but never "Rooks", it can't be a proper noun unless that specific bird happens to be named Rook, omg that would be so confusing, it'd be like naming your kid Person) though I'm still a little leery about doing that considering they have obviously chosen the name The Rook for themselves. If they were all rooks we could have just refered to them as "the rooks" instead of making a collective title for them.
    Posted 16 months ago by Skwid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • as for 'collectives' - you forgot my very favorite!!   lol ...

    'a murder of crows'
    Posted 16 months ago by Firestone1960 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • dang Trades - I didn't refresh before I posted!!
    Posted 16 months ago by Firestone1960 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • David Malki made a wonderful list of supernatural collective nouns on his comic site Wondermark.com. Some clever ones in there, like "a baleful of martyrs" and "a skynet of cyborgs".
    Posted 16 months ago by Skwid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • By the way: collective nouns of the supernatural.
    Posted 16 months ago by Lord Bacon-o Subscriber! | Permalink
  • A party of incubi! Hope I get invited.
    Posted 16 months ago by Lilypad Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @skwid I think I'm back to saying, "Birds is attackin'!"
    Posted 16 months ago by Heyoheya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Alfred Hitchcock's   The Birds  was the pinacle of bird attack movies..
    Man, I was skert.

    There is a fine line between having these Rook attacks funny, I can get away ....and
    Death! Death by Rook at Dawn....
    Posted 16 months ago by napabeth Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "A percussion of giants."    ....according to Wondermark

    hmmm....shouldn't the game music have just a little more drums to it?
    Posted 16 months ago by Firestone1960 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Lord Bacon-oohhhhh I linked to that poster in the post right before yours! (except mine is on Malki's website) :D
    Posted 16 months ago by Skwid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Interesting, I always thought of the rook as singular, not plural. I know we see several birds attacking, but I think of the birds together as representing "the rook". I think the rook is an entity outside of the giants minds and the birds are a symbolic representation of it's activity. 
    Posted 16 months ago by FrankenPaula Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Perhaps there's only one rook, and it is able to appear in multiple places at once!
    Posted 16 months ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The Rook is definitely a collective noun. Tiny Speck has stated as much on their blog:

    "The Rook is dark and opposes all creativity. And they will try to attack the game world, especially locations which are left a little too neglected …" [emphasis added]
    Posted 16 months ago by Skwid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The point of English grammar is to make sense of the English language and to allow all of us to be understood by one another. Grammar is just a collection of guidelines that helps us get our ideas across.

    So. There is only one Rook. There are many Rook. A Rook is attacking my pigs; it's the same Rook that is giving me the stink-eye.

    All of these work, make sense, and are grammatically correct!

    Edit: Hey @Skwid! I went clicking around the Wikipedia article you linked and found this in either the mass nouns or count nouns article:
    "In English, some nouns are used most frequently as mass nouns, with or without a classifier (as in "Waiter, I'll have some coffee" or "Waiter, I'll have a cup of coffee"), but also less frequently as count nouns (as in "Waiter, we'll have three coffees.")"

    So maybe until there is a Glitch Book of Grammar available from a Street Spirit, we'll just have to take it on faith that the English language, much like a Streets Project, is an ad hoc thing, with all of us adding on little bits as we go.
    Posted 16 months ago by Heyoheya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I had always thought the collective noun for seagulls was a nuisance of seagulls.  However, a quick Google doesn't find this to be the case - it must have just been someone's humorous invention from my early years .  Instead, looking at collective nouns on Google one finds a nuisance of cats(!).  As I'm sure jasbo would tell you, "nuisance of cats" is a complete contradiction of terms.
    Posted 16 months ago by Hawkwell Subscriber! | Permalink
  • As Hawkwell knows, I live with a nuisance of cats.  At least, that's what the dog tells me.

    rook in real life is a member of the crow family, indigenous to Europe and Asia, and belongs to the genus Corvus, commonly known as ravens.

    Tangentially - Edgar Allen Poe's grave is in the churchyard adjoining my workplace.  
    Posted 16 months ago by jasbo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • wow - this is an intriguing thread! I feel woefully inadequate when it comes to contributing. So is there ever a time in Glitch when we should be saying rooks? It sounds as though there isn't.

    Question- is it therefore a Rook attack, Rook attack, attack of The Rook, the rooks are attacking...and so on......?
    Posted 16 months ago by Twoodle Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My house here in England has four chimneys - two in regular use, one capped off and one neither in use nor capped off.  The rooks (RW, therefore lower case and plural) make use of that last one every spring as a nesting place, and the sounds of a growing brood of rooklets is very audible in the bedroom whose fireplace flue leads up to their nest.  So far they have not attacked!
    Posted 16 months ago by Hawkwell Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Jasbo that is awesome! You aren't the Poe Toaster are you?
    Posted 16 months ago by Skwid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @ Twoodle IMO attack of The Rook, or The Rook is/are attacking would work.
    Posted 16 months ago by Skwid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Skwid - sadly, no - and the Poe Toaster didn't show this year.  
    Posted 16 months ago by jasbo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Skwid: I just want to say I love that you put so much thought into this. The Rook should fear you. :)
    Posted 16 months ago by Lelu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I was once told if you see one rook it's a crow, and if you see a lot of crows they are rooks :)
    Posted 16 months ago by Momo McGlitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks @Lelu!
    Posted 16 months ago by Skwid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My favourite is missing - an exaltation of larks.

     During an actual attack, do not expect anything more coherent from me than a street name and   HALP! Rook Attack!!! 
    Posted 16 months ago by caley dunn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Perhaps "The Rook" is just the name of the group. A tribe name if you will. For example, I could be in a group called *lame example alert* "The Person". So as we go looting, the shopkeeper would have to shout "The person are/is looting my shop"
    Posted 16 months ago by hoppy Subscriber! | Permalink