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Blank of humans

Posted by R. Berg on June 20, 2001

In Reply to: Blank of humans posted by Bob on June 20, 2001

: : There are several. Village. Crowd. Team. Family. Mob. Congregation. Is that what you had in mind?

: : Also Tribe, Pack, Glee Club, Convention, Posse, Race, Nation, and Bunch O' Guys On the Streetcorner.

: : : : We'd been through those, thanks. Just wondered if there was something aimed specifically at Humans rather than small sections of people.

: : : A concentration of thinkers?

: : Pardon me while I ramble. The problem is, we "label" groups of humans based on the function of the group. Team = group with a common goal. Family = related people. Mob = group up to no good. But you want a label just based on the fact that it is a group of human animals. Like flock of birds, herd of cattle, a blank of humans. Does that sum it up?

: The problem is, a flock of geese, or a murder of crows, is a group name, and you can pretty much understand goose and/or crow behavior by this group. But human beings are vastly more complex, and while we have a word or two to describe us as a whole ("humanity" "mankind" and so on) when we form groups they tend to be far more complicated than a pride of lions. We have so many more ways to relate to each other, so many more activities to do in groups... so we have lots more group names (Canadians, string quartet, passengers, class of '65.... ad infinitum.) There's (apparently) no word that can salfely and accurately group us, without defining the activity of the group.

When sociologists talk about humans in groups, the general word they use is "group."

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