What do you call a large group of snails?

  We have all heard of collective names for things like a gaggle of geese, a covey of quail and flock of sheep but what about some of the more unusual group names?  Have you ever heard of a wisdom of owls?  A congress of baboons?  Or how about a murder of crows? Yes?  Well, then does a pandemonium of parrots, a party of blue jays and a trip of goats ring a bell?  I find a lot of the collective names quite amusing (think congress of baboons here) but I often wondered what happened to the rest of the animals, insects, and otherwise just critters? Do all critters have collective names? Take snails, for instance, are they lumped together under some grand sounding title?  I mean if jellyfish are deemed important enough to be called a fluther, then snails should rate something.  Perhaps I have just never heard of it.  So, I searched and found out that we may call a group of snails by the lovely collective name of a "walk".  Yep!  A walk of snails!  That just does not even make one bit of sense!  Snails do not walk!  I shall just call them a nuisance!  A nuisance of snails makes a whole lot more sense to me.

  This whole pondering came about today as I was out playing in the garden.  My vegetable garden is interspersed with any number of "volunteer" flowers.  Much to Son's vexation, I leave the flowers grow. "Vegetable gardens should have vegetables, not flowers." he tells me often.  The flowers stay. Like I said, I was out playing when I came across the most unacceptable plight.  The wood violets under the tomato plants were literally coated with snails!  This, my friends, is not something I relish.  Snails eat lovely holes in most everything so they will have to go.  I lifted the leaves of a single violet plant and found over thirty of the despicable mollusks.  GO AWAY!  I handpicked the little varmints to be exterminated in the most gentlest method...yeah, right. (Maybe I have now figured out the idea behind "walk"....SMASH!) I believe these critters are multiplying faster than I can gather them. Thousands upon thousands of snails have invaded the garden space. (Truly!  I am not exaggerating with that estimation. They are everywhere!)  Perhaps the rainy summer has encouraged the breeding of the critters but I shall have to find a way to eliminate them if the garden is expected to grow.  Perhaps a bit of diatomaceous earth is in order.  This is nontoxic to pets and humans but is a great critter eradicator. Snails, beware!  I mean you harm!

  Oh, by the way, a group of slugs.....a cornucopia.  Huh? A cornucopia of slugs?  Ugh!  Not in my cornucopia, you don't! I already have a walk of snails invading the veggies, you slugs can just forget about it!