Comments on: What do you call a group of ninjas?

Question: What do you call a group of ninjas?

qbxk — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:43:14 -0800

What do you call a group of ninjas?

You know, like gaggle of geese, murder of crows, school of fish, all that. Does a group of ninjas have some sort of descriptor? We're talking many people in halloween costumes, how to address them together. The { blank }

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:46:52 -0800

Ninja. No distinction between the singular and plural in Japanese.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:50:44 -0800

One ninja, many ninjim.

And the collective is a flipout of ninjim.

Because ninjim are mammals who flip out and kill people.

By: BorgLove

BorgLove — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:52:30 -0800

qbxk is referring to a collective noun or collective plural, not just plural. Google turns up nothing. I suggest a sneak of ninja. Or maybe a death.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:56:21 -0800

A clan of ninjas?

A ninja clan?

The <ninja clan's name> clan?

By: MarkAnd

MarkAnd — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:56:26 -0800

A hedge of ninjas.

"We are a hedge. Please move along."

By: willnot

willnot — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:01:02 -0800

When I was studying Ninjutsu in the 80's, I studied a style called Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu. Togakure was the family name, and I think that Ryu means family or clan. Ryu or Clan is probably the best designation for a very large group, but if the Samurai had a word for an army or platoon or unit, then one of those might serve as well. You'd need somebody way more versed in Japanese than I am to say for sure.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:01:34 -0800

A stealth of ninja.

By: Iron Rat

Iron Rat — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:15:00 -0800

A cloudshadow of ninja? Dang, when you consider my Saturday night revolves around Naruto I really should know this.

By: quin

quin — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:16:46 -0800

Crap, beaten to the punch (it's funny cause ninja's both beat and punch...)

Clan. Definitely a clan.Though this would be an excellent opportunity to come up with a cool new collective noun for groups of ninja.

A wraith of ninjas
A hood of ninjas
A murder of ninjas?
Ninji?

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:17:37 -0800

A Diminishing Effectuality of ninjas?

By: hatsix

hatsix — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:21:55 -0800

Well, a Clan of Ninja's would indicate a formal relationship, but what if there are a bunch of Ninjas that aren't in the same clan.... are they still a clan of Ninjas.

Definitely a question for "Ask a Ninja"

By: gmarceau

gmarceau — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:23:47 -0800

What do you call a group of ninjas?

An oxymoron. Ninjas kill alone.

By: juliarothbort

juliarothbort — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:24:45 -0800

My google reveals that the plural of Ninja is Ninja

By: Mr.Encyclopedia

Mr.Encyclopedia — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:27:11 -0800

gmarceau, you obviously never watched The Last Samurai. In it we see that not only do Ninjas attack in packs, they also do so without the least bit of stealth or guile, instead relying on sheer numbers.

By: gleuschk

gleuschk — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:30:55 -0800

What do you call a group of ninjas?

Sir, sir, sir, and sir.

By: hatsix

hatsix — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:31:56 -0800

Ask a Ninja

By: Meemer

Meemer — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:33:05 -0800

A flock of ninjas! Just think of the potential for hair-intimidation!

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:43:55 -0800

A silence of ninjas?
An inevitability of ninjas?
A doom of ninjas?
A black of ninjas?
A balaclava of ninjas?
A probability of ninjas?

A rabble of ninjas?

By: TheWhiteSkull

TheWhiteSkull — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:46:34 -0800

I think if you look at the original Latin derivation, it would be ninjae

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:00:04 -0800

Anything they want to be called.

By: NinjaTadpole

NinjaTadpole — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:07:27 -0800

frogspawn

By: scrump

scrump — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:11:11 -0800

What do you call a group of ninjas?

Oh, I know this one, you call them a...hold on, there's someone at the do

By: adamrice

adamrice — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:18:16 -0800

Just for grins, I skimmed the Japanese wikipedia article on ninja. Didn't see any collective word for ninja jumping off the page at me. I hereby give you carte-blanche (perhaps that should be carte-noir) to make up your own collective noun. But a good Japanese word for "swarm" is �� (unshu)the characters literally mean "gathering of clouds" which is poetic and apt.

FWIW, "ryu" (or more properly as a standalone word, "ryuha") doesn't mean clan, it means school or style, and you have "ryu" in just about every traditional Japanese art (like, say, flower arranging); "Togakure" apparently refers not to a person but to a mountain in Nagano prefecture.

By: mckenney

mckenney — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:24:32 -0800

You don't call them anything, because you don't even know they're there.

By: horsewithnoname

horsewithnoname — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:24:44 -0800

A shitload of ninjas.

By: car_bomb

car_bomb — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:32:23 -0800

A BADASS OF NINJAS

By: einekleine

einekleine — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:37:51 -0800

A whisper of ninja

By: Tixylix

Tixylix — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 17:06:48 -0800

a murder of ninjas

By: GooseOnTheLoose

GooseOnTheLoose — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 17:08:06 -0800

When I say ninja in Japanese, it's pretty much only with a negative connotation, sarcastic or not. That is, if somebody had stolen something, eavesdropped or inexplicably been aware of something, hidden/kept a secret, etc. I would call them a ninja.

Having said that, I vote:

a lurk of ninja.

By: ilsa

ilsa — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 18:21:33 -0800

ninja-tachi, or ninja-sama. As many weird counters (different words for counting minutes, and flat objects, and long objects, and round objects, and machinery, and small animals, and years, and minutes, and people...) as Japanese has, you would think there would be a counter for ninjas.

But I admit I cracked up over "sir, sir, sir, and sir."

By: casarkos

casarkos — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 18:37:19 -0800

Whatever the opposite of the corresponding word for pirates is.

By: drfu

drfu — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 18:53:42 -0800

Whatever the opposite of the corresponding word for pirates is.

Pirates in a group would be a fleet.

A ship of ninjas?

Perhaps an oh, shit! of ninjas.

By: perelman

perelman — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:32:16 -0800

whatever they ask to be called...

... assuming they bother to tell you before they attack.

By: geekyguy

geekyguy — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:42:51 -0800

Perhaps the answer can be found in An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton. Yeah, that James Lipton.

By: kindall

kindall — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:49:44 -0800

"Band" or "clan" works, I've heard both.

By: muddgirl

muddgirl — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:03:14 -0800

I was going to answer "clan", because that's the right answer, but then I read this:

A shitload of ninjas.

As someone who was deathly afraid of ninjas when I was a kiddie, this is surely the best answer.

By: Meep! Eek!

Meep! Eek! — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:03:50 -0800

A Null of Ninja?

Although, I'm still amused by "A hedge of Ninja". Thanks, MarkAnd.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:38:36 -0800

According to this, the proper term is "team."

I rest my case.

By: Alt F4

Alt F4 — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:46:03 -0800

a turtle van of ninjas

By: qbxk

qbxk — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 22:37:03 -0800

all very good, please continue the fun! and thanks you a-much to geekyguy for pointing us to the veritable dictionary of collective nouns. (with thanks to BorgLove for that answer to the implied question of what this modifier is called)

and in mr. lipton's spirit i will suggest:
an uh-oh of ninja

horsewithnoname++ for putting beer in my blast of sinuses

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 06:01:41 -0800

Wikiepdia has a giant list of Japanese counter words. It appears that ko is used for counting military units and mei and nin are used for counting people, with mei being the more polite version.

By: Gordion Knott

Gordion Knott — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 06:08:52 -0800

I would use ��ninjadan)

By: Alt F4

Alt F4 — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 06:39:37 -0800

I think nebulkawindphone meant to link here.

By: adamrice

adamrice — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 07:01:06 -0800

For the record, you can't use a counter-word as a collective noun. We have counter-words in English tooeg, head of cattle. A head is not a herd.

By: horsewithnoname

horsewithnoname — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 08:28:03 -0800

qbxk- Always glad to share my knowledge.

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 10:13:28 -0800

You morons. Only mckenny even got close.

You don't call them anything because you're dead before you realize they're there.

By: kosem

kosem — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 11:36:31 -0800

You call them Young Artist Award Nominees Michael Treanor, Max Elliott Slade and Chad Power.

I support neologism:

A swordcloud of
A fiststorm of
A bladeswarm of
etc.

By: Rumple

Rumple — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 11:38:01 -0800

An Unherd of Ninjas

A Binge of Ninjas
A Magnificent Obession of Ninjas
A Ninjamorie
A Posse of Ninjas
A Multitooled of Ninjas
A Gumbo of Ninjas
A Collective Non of Ninjas

By: obiwanwasabi

obiwanwasabi — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 22:18:58 -0800

A team or a troop.

By: pax digita

pax digita — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 05:56:18 -0800

When they're together, I'd guess team, but I liked "a stealth of ninjas." Closest Western analogue I've seen is "a boat crew of SEALs."

By: drezdn

drezdn — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 06:36:44 -0800

Whatever they want you to call them.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Thu, 10 May 2007 09:20:15 -0800

I don't know what you'd call a group of ninjas, but a group of Sasquatches is a pod. Like whales.