a ? of chicken drumstick? What collective noun to use?

[trina0303]

a ? of chicken drumstick? What collective noun to use?

[Ouisch]

Usually we wouldn't say "of a chicken drumstick."
You could say "I had three chicken drumsticks for dinner."
Or: "I ordered four pieces of chicken: two thighs and two drumsticks."

[BobK]

Originally Posted by trina0303

a ? of chicken drumstick? What collective noun to use?

Well, if you're committed to using a collective noun, you could always take the facetious way out:

The table was filled with [various stuff]..., and a veritable drum-roll of chicken legs.


But this would be pretty risky, and relies a lot on your audience.

b

[Ouisch]

Originally Posted by BobK

The table was filled with [various stuff]..., and a veritable drum-roll of chicken legs.

Oy and double oy! "Tsk, tsk," she clucked and shook her head over the dreadful chicken pun.

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by trina0303

a ? of chicken drumstick? What collective noun to use?

You could use:

a plate/bowl of chicken drumsticks
a pile of chicken drumsticks

[rewboss]

English does have a lot of collective nouns: a herd of sheep, a flock of birds, a pride of lions. Some of them are very exotic, and few people actually use them any more: a gaggle of geese, a string of horses, a murder of crows, a sleuth of bears, a tower of giraffes, a paddling of ducks (but only when they're swimming).

However, English doesn't have a special collective noun for everything. In fact, these collective nouns are used only for live animals and birds -- they originated in the English hunting tradition.

Chicken drumsticks are not live animals or live birds; they are parts of recently-dead birds. Therefore, there is no special collective noun for them.

[BobK]

Originally Posted by rewboss

English does have a lot of collective nouns: a herd of sheep, a flock of birds, a pride of lions. Some of them are very exotic, and few people actually use them any more: a gaggle of geese, a string of horses, a murder of crows, a sleuth of bears, a tower of giraffes, a paddling of ducks (but only when they're swimming).
...

And this allows for a few jocular coinings, like 'a chapter of writers'. These follow rewboss's rule of applying to living things (but obviously not in a hunting context). There is, now I come to think of it, one that applies to an (apparently) inanimate thing, but it does apply in a hunting context: "a clutch of eggs".

b

[rewboss]

"Clutch" isn't quite in the same class, though. It is a technical term for a number of eggs incubated at the same time. You will not find a clutch of eggs in your refrigerator.