Per 'fesnyng', consider the following usenet post:
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Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: Sesquipedalephilia
Ben Walsh (walshb@unix1.tcd.ie) wrote:
> This question has bothered me on a kind of conceptual, rather than
> a linguistic, level.
>
> The word "fesnyng" is the collective noun given to ferrets. A fesnyng
> of ferrets is one of those idiomatic and endearing terms now facing
> extinction. When was the last time anyone said "a murder of crows" and
> not "a flock"? A "charm of nightingales"? A "watch" of whatever it is
> that comes in watches?
>
> So, there is the rough Saxon term "fesnyng", heavy with both
> alliteration and assonance: "a fesnyng of ferrets". Lovely.
>
> Here, though, is the problem. Ferrets are fiercely solitary animals.
> They are no more likely to get together in a fesnyng than you or I are.
> So how, or why, does this word exist? How can you label something which
> does not ever happen?
>
> The argument: make your own fesnyng. Put a group of ferrets together (I
> believe that a bathtub is usually used for this purpose), and one might
> claim to be entitled to say "there's a fesnyng in my bath". However, I
> disagree. You do not have a fesnyng any more than several lions from
> different prides constitute one pride when put together.
>
> Any thoughts??
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