School of Fish

In our last episode, (Email Removed), the lovely and talented MC broadcast on alt.usage.english:
[nq:1]"School of Fish " This one has puzzled me since I was a kid. Is it a corruption of "shoal" or something else?[/nq]
Yes, it is related to one "shoal," but possibly not the "shoal" you are thinking of.
The shoal which means shallow or sandbar comes from a different root than the root of

Quoth MC (Email Removed), and I quote:
[nq:1]"School of Fish " This one has puzzled me since I was a kid. Is it a corruption of "shoal" or something else?[/nq]
Both "shoal" and "school" are probably "corruptions" of the same word borrowed into English from the language of fishermen in the Low Countries at different times, Middle Low German "schole", Dutch "school". One represents the pronu

[nq:2]"School of Fish " This one has puzzled me since I was a kid. Is it a corruption of "shoal" or something else?[/nq]
[nq:1]Both "shoal" and "school" are probably "corruptions" of the same word borrowed into English from the language of fishermen in ... One represents the pronunciation with /S/ found in Low German and Flemish, the other is based on the Dutch /sX/.[/nq]
OED:
school,

[nq:1]OED: school, n.2 (a. Du. school troop, multitude, â??schoolâ?? of whales:{em}MDu. schole, OS. scola troop = OE. scolu:{em}OTeut. *skul{amac} str. ... (ed. 7) I. 380 A great Shoal, or, as they call it, a Scool of Pilchards, came swimming..into the Harbour.[/nq]
When talking of a large number of relatively small fish, I would naturally think of a "shoal" (as in the song "The Shoals of Herr

[nq:1]Peter Duncanson writes[/nq]
[nq:2]OED: school, n.2 (a. Du. school troop, multitude, â??schoolâ?? of ... call it, a Scool of Pilchards, came swimming..into the Harbour.[/nq]
[nq:1]When talking of a large number of relatively small fish, I would naturally think of a "shoal" (as in the ... about sharks, which aren't). Could this be because the numbers in a "school" are much less than in

[nq:2]Peter Duncanson writes When talking of a large number of ... in a "school" are much less than in a "shoal"?[/nq]
[nq:1]It was my understanding that marine mammals socialized in pods.[/nq]
Yes, of course..
But is that only dolphins (and maybe porpoises)? I'm pretty sure that whales have schools.

Ian

[nq:1]OED: school, n.2 (a. Du. school troop, multitude, ?school? of whales:{em}MDu. schole, OS. scola troop = OE. scolu:{em}OTeut. *skul{amac} str. ... number of fish, porpoises, whales, etc. swimming together whilst feeding or migrating. Also in a school, in or by schools.[/nq]
And if there's a large number of foot pads floating there...

Jeff

Money to get power,
Power to

[nq:2]When talking of a large number of relatively small fish, ... in a "school" are much less than in a "shoal"?[/nq]
[nq:1]It was my understanding that marine mammals socialized in pods.[/nq]
Why do dolphins live in a school? What is a dolphin nursery? What is spy-hopping? Find the answers to these and many more questions in A School of Dolphins. Many mammals live alone, but dolphins liv

[nq:2]It was my understanding that marine mammals socialized in pods.[/nq]
[nq:1]Why do dolphins live in a school? What is a dolphin nursery? What is spy-hopping? Find the answers to these ... fascinating life and habits of dolphins and to see how a school works. http://www.heinemannlibrar

[nq:2]It was my understanding that marine mammals socialized in pods.[/nq]
[nq:1]Why do dolphins live in a school? What is a dolphin nursery? What is spy-hopping? Find the answers to these ... fascinating life and habits of dolphins and to see how a school works. http://www.heinemannlibrar