Following up on our conversation about the need for a collective noun for librarians, a Ranchester, Wyoming, man suggests a Marian of librarians, a nod to the play and movie The Music Man. Also a woman in Bennington, Vermont, suggests that although many people are likely to propose the phrase a hush of librarians, she thinks a far more appropriate term would be a riot of librarians. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Collective Nouns for Librarians”
We were talking earlier about the search for a collective noun for a group of librarians.
And we heard from Peter Clark in Ranchester, Wyoming, who suggested that a collective of librarians is a Marion.
A Marion librarian?
Marion. Madam librarian.
I don’t know what’s that from.
You’re right from The Music Man.
Oh, okay. There we go. My wife wouldn’t know that because it’s set in Iowa, I think.
Okay. All right. And, you know, a lot of people suggested a hush of librarians,
But I don’t know that that really fits the librarians that I know.
A shush.
A shush.
Yeah.
Sarah Sanfilippo from Southern Vermont College in Bennington, Vermont, said, yeah, that a lot of people are probably suggesting a hush or a shush.
But her preference is a riot of librarians.
And knowing the librarians I know, a riot fits.
Yeah.
And knowing the librarians I know, I was surprised.
I mean, we got the stereotype of the hushing librarian.
But what we didn’t get is the stereotype of the sexy librarian.
Which is a thing, let me tell you.
We could call it a sexy of librarians.
Oh.
Right?
Let’s go ahead and noun that word, right?
I like that.
Noun that adjective.
Well, no.
Doesn’t that already exist for public radio hosts?
A sexy of public radio hosts?
I don’t really know what you’re talking about.
Maybe not.
Well, we love collective nouns.
We love all kinds of nouns, don’t we?
And verbs and adjectives.
We do.
Deep into the language and the surface, the fun stuff, the serious stuff.
We talk about it all.
Yes.
Bring it to us.
