Too Much Tequila, Too Little Sunscreen

I find the old and often charming words we use to describe undefined quantities of things interesting. And even more interesting that that word is often unique to that thing or class of things. When we use the word batch we immediately know that this is a quantity of baked goodies, cookies, brownies and such and not bread ― bread comes in loaves. I don’t know if other languages have this quaint tradition, but I sure hope so. Here are some of the words that tickle the few remaining cells in my tequila soaked brain.

An army of ants
A bar of soap
A barrel of laughs
A barrel of monkeys
A batch of cookies
A bed of roses
A bed of clams
A bevy of beauties
A blade of grass
A block of rooms
A bouquet of flowers
A brood of hens
A bucket of bolts
A bunch of grapes
A can of worms
A cast of characters
A cloud of gnats
A colony of penguins
A covey of quail
A cube of butter
A culture of bacteria
A cup of sugar
A dab of butter
A deck of cards
A den of thieves
A fleet of ships
A flight of stairs
A flock of sheep
A gaggle of geese
A grain of sand
A head of lettuce
A head of steam
A hill of beans
A host of men
A kettle of fish
A litter of pups
A lump of coal
A loaf of bread
A margin of error
A month of Sundays
A mountain of debt
A nest of robins
An ounce of prevention
A pack of dogs
A pad of butter
A pair of pants
A piece of pie
A pile of rock
A pinch of salt
A pod of whales
A pound of flesh
A rack of ribs
A round of ammunition
A round of drinks
A school of fish
A scoop of ice cream
A set of sheets
A sheet of paper
A shot of whiskey
A slab of bacon
A slice of bread
A sliver of hope
A sprig of parsley
A spot of tea
A stack of pancakes
A stalk of celery
A stick of gum
A string of pearls
A swarm of bees
A team of oxen
A tray of ice cubes
A tree of knowledge

And then we have the quantity defined by the container in which we normally find the item like a can of soup or a cup of coffee. We would never say a bag of bread even though bread is normally sold in plastic or paper bags. Why is that?

A bag of popcorn
A bottle of wine
A book of matches
A bowl of soup
A box of cigars
A can of tuna
A case of beer
A cup of coffee
A glass of water
A jar of pickles
A pack of cigarettes
A quart of milk
A sack of flour
A tube of toothpaste

There you have it and I never used any of those esoteric amounts like An Exaltation of Larks or possibly the worst ever, An Ostentation of Peacocks.