a vanity of blogs, part 2

 So...coming up with updated terms of venery (TOV's) was much more challenging than I expected, but after some brilliant reader suggestions, much experimentation/editing, and some really terrible first attempts (e.g. a schmaltz of waltzes, a clove of vampires), I've compiled a preliminary collection of some modern day terms of venery for your reading and collecting pleasure, as well as some TOV composition guidelines (for the DIY'er):

1. Alliteration is good. Innuendo is better.
2. Adjectives tend to work more effectively than nouns.
3. Terms of venery are derogatory creatures by nature. They do not lend themselves to positive connotations easily, and when they do, the end result seems a little trite. (There are definitely some exceptions to this rule, and I've tried to include a number of neutral and positive TOV's in my collection.)
4. Successful TOV formulas include: IdR + N = TOV and eg + N = TOV [IdR=indirect reference; N= noun; eg= exempli gratia]. Results of these formulas include: mytacism + Hanson fans = "a mytacism of Hanson fans" and flutterby + spoonerism = "a flutterby of spoonerisms."

Hopefully these will inspire you to come up with your own terms of venery. If they do, please post them in the Comments section!                                                                                                                              

Terms of Venery 101:

 

**a promiscuity of Cougars**

**a stool of barflies (when seated)**

**a hover of barflies (when congregated outside a drinking establishment)**

**a suction of octopuses**

**a desuetude of dodo birds**

**a whimpering of pundits**

**a sanctity of side-hugs**

**a twittering of tweens**

**a despondency of uSingers**

**a mundanity of status updates**

**a glittering of vampires (when in the sun)**

**a flutterby of spoonerisms**

**a progeny of pogonotrophers**

**a sloth/slueth of baldheads** (Bears love baldheads, so I thought they should share a TOV.)

**a penetration of analrapists** (Bless you, Arrested Development.)

**a maladroitness of mockumentaries**

**a mytacism of Hanson fans**

**a cliche of platitudes (or should it be a "platitude of cliches"?)**

**a belig (soft 'g') of abbrevs** (if u dont know this obvi abbrev for 'belligerence,' u make me want 2 vom)

**a fingerstache of  tatts** (the use of 'fingerstache' implies that the tatts are of an "ironic" nature)

 

Reader's Terms of Venery:

**a treachery of potholes**

**a desperation of blind dates**

**a proliferation of blogs**

Terms of Venery I'd Like to Take Credit for:

**a shudder of clowns**

**a charm of lullabies**

**a vanity of blogs**

**an enterprise of Trekkies**

**an eclipse of socialism** (one of many inadvertent terms of venery penned by Amanda McKittrick Ros)