Dad read a book, "An Exaltation of Larks or The Venereal Game" by James Lipton. He remembered his parents reading the book and loving it, so he got a copy. Apparently, in the 15th and 16th centuries you had to study and know the correct terms for groupings of animals and people and things so that you would not look silly at dinner. So there is "a school of fish", "a pride of lions" etc. Some of the entries give possible explanations of where the terms came from. At the top of page 44 is...
A TRIP OF GOATS
A very widely used term, given by eighteen authorities.
It could come from the Icelandic thrypa, meaning "flock,"
or it could be a corruption of "tribe."
That's silly! We all know (and still practice!) the reason we are called "A Trip of Goats"... That is especially obvious when dad goes into the wether pen and they try hard to trip him!
Comments