It is very common in Portuguese to use the same word to designate different things, such as arm (part of the human body and part of a chair or sofa) and mango (fruit or composition of a shirt or shirt). There are also cases of the same object having different names in each region, such as cassava, or cassava, or cassava. In this way, we perceive the richness and dynamism of the Portuguese language.
You collective nouns are very rich examples of terms with more than one possibility of use by speakers. A surprising example is that bunch, a term often used to refer to a group of people, friends, rogues, etc., is collective crab. Have you ever imagined this?
Check out some other examples of collectives we use in contexts other than the original:
Cologne: "They went to camp."
Çset of bacteria: colony
Fact: "This is a fact to be considered in the investigation."
Goats set: suit
Stick: “This is the Family Court in the municipality of Guaibim.”; "The daughter was beaten with a stick in the middle of the street."
Set of pigs: stick
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School: "Tomorrow I start at the new high school."
Set of voters: college
Flag: “Don't flag there tomorrow.”; “The flag of China I haven't seen yet.”
Set of miners: flag
Cord: "The string is not enough to tie all the clothes."
Set of ants: cord
Some theorists call this linguistic phenomenon of language as Semantic Neologism. Others just consider these adaptations as creations lexical. Regardless of how these usage variations are categorized, the important thing is to pay attention to the possibilities each word offers.
Therefore, we must always consider the context of use of each word. It is this aspect that will determine the meaning of the word in question and will enable a better performance in the ability of interpretation, expression and, consequently, communication. So let's take advantage of the richness of our mother tongue!
by Mariana Pacheco
Graduated in Letters
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PACHECO, Mariana do Carmo. "Different meanings of some collectives"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/diferentes-significados-alguns-coletivos.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
