{"id":1455,"date":"2022-03-08T09:58:25","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T14:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1455"},"modified":"2022-03-08T09:58:25","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T14:58:25","slug":"dance-of-the-porcupines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/08\/dance-of-the-porcupines\/","title":{"rendered":"Dance of the Porcupines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Collective nouns are one of the most delightful components of the English language.
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A collective noun is a word that describes a group of something:\u00a0a herd of elephants, a pack of wolves, a gaggle of geese, a choir of singers.\u00a0 We hear those examples rather often.
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Less common collectives can be a hoot: a clowder of cats, a bloat of hippos, a kindle of kittens, an ambush of tigers, a crash of rhinos.
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Bird species have especially interesting collectives:\u00a0a murder of crows, a harmony of nightingales, a conspiracy of ravens, an exaltation of larks, a peep of chickens, a squabble of seagulls, a paddling of ducks, an ostentation of peacocks, and a dropping of pigeons.\u00a0
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And no, I did not make that last one up.
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Sometimes collective nouns suggest certain character qualities:\u00a0an obstinacy of buffalo, a romp of otters, a shrewdness of apes, a sneak of weasels, and a skulk of foxes.
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There are some fascinating collective nouns for humans: a babble of barbers, a riot of comedians, a slither of gossip columnists, a pomposity of professors, and a soul-wrenching disillusionment of Purdue sports fans.\u00a0
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OK, I made that last one up.
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Is there a creature that has no collective noun?\u00a0 That would be the North American Common Porcupine.\u00a0 There\u2019s no need to invent a word for a group of porcupines.\u00a0 They waddle through life solo.
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Porcupines are not cuddly.\u00a0 Nor are they party animals.\u00a0 When its privacy is threatened, a porcupine has two primary responses:\u00a0run away and hide, or (as a last resort) get up close and personal with some of those famous quills.
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A porcupine\u2019s body is covered with approximately 30,000 miniature lances \u2013 barbs that expand and become more firmly embedded when they are thrust into the flesh of a perceived enemy.
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I know what you\u2019re thinking:\u00a0 Porcupines surely aren\u2019t always <\/em>alone.\u00a0 Otherwise, where would little porcupines come from?\u00a0
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It\u2019s hard to improve on John Ortberg\u2019s riff on this in Everybody\u2019s Normal Til You Get to Know Them.<\/em>\u00a0 He writes, \u201cIn the late autumn, a young porcupine\u2019s thoughts turn to love.\u00a0 But love turns out to be a risky business when you\u2019re a porcupine.\u00a0 Females are open to dinner and a movie only once a year; the window of opportunity closes quickly.\u00a0 And a girl porcupine\u2019s \u2018no\u2019 is the most widely respected turndown in all the animal kingdom.\u00a0 Fear and anger make them dangerous little creatures to be around.\u201d
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Ortberg then describes the Porcupine\u2019s Dilemma, which is really our dilemma as well:\u00a0 How do you get close without getting hurt?<\/em>
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When people become angry, wounded, or fearful, we tend to act like porcupines.\u00a0 We want to run away and hide.\u00a0 Or we decide to strike back.\u00a0 We may not have quills, but we can come up with at least 30,000 ways to diminish and disrespect other people with our words.
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So how do porcupines ever experience love?
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Naturalist David Costello writes: \u201cMales and females may remain together for some days before mating.\u00a0 They may touch paws and even walk on their hind feet in the so-called \u2018dance of the porcupines.\u2019\u201d
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It seems like a miracle, but it really does happen.\u00a0 Porcupines decide to pull in their quills and learn how to dance.
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We, as human porcupines, are called to do the same \u2013 even with that other porcupine reclining in your family room, living down the street, or stirring up strong feelings at work.
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The apostle Paul makes this utterly practical: \u201cBless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they\u2019re happy; share tears when they\u2019re down. Get along with each other; don\u2019t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don\u2019t be the great somebody.\u00a0 Don\u2019t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you\u2019ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don\u2019t insist on getting even; that\u2019s not for you to do. \u2018I\u2019ll do the judging,\u2019 says God. \u2018I\u2019ll take care of it\u2019\u201d (Romans 12:14-19, The Message<\/em>).
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Who knows?\u00a0
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With God\u2019s help, we might yet become a Grace-Giving Gang of Disciples.\u00a0

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Collective nouns are one of the most delightful components of the English language.\u00a0A collective noun is a word that describes a group of something:\u00a0a herd of elephants, a pack of wolves, a gaggle of geese, a choir of singers.\u00a0 We hear those examples rather often.\u00a0Less common collectives can be a hoot: a clowder of cats, a bloat of hippos, a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-1455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-relationships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1457,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455\/revisions\/1457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}