Transitory Groups

[RawkusSpectre]

Circus troupes are also interesting.

 

[skip.knox]

Not circus troupes only, but itinerant performing groups in general can be interesting.

 

[skip.knox]

Are the words inherently connected skip?

We still have old drovers roads where I live, the term of which I have used in one of my works. But my understanding of them was more of locality - farmer droving their cattle or flocks to other pasture.

Droves to me means in large number so I assume they are connected.

Yes, all related etymologically. In current parlance, the word survives mostly as "droves" with the meaning of "a large group" of something. It's also related to the word drive.

Now I think about it, there's a whole class of "transitory" people we've overlooked; namely, day-laborers. Very much like modern migrant laborers, these were people who went where the work was, living in temporary housing or at best renting cheaply.

We can also invent transient people. For example, individuals who refuse to sleep in the same place two nights consecutively. Maybe for some religious reason. Or people who labor under a geas (something like a curse or burden) that compels them never to settle in one place, though they might stay somewhere for a few days or even weeks. People who travel, but only at night.

Lots of room for invention. After all, as the saying goes, fiction is stranger than truth.

 

[pmmg]

He slew them in droves, means he slew a lot to me.

Drovers, or a drovers road, I would assign a different meaning to. It may also mean a lot, but it probably means something like migrants.

 

[Mad Swede]

He slew them in droves, means he slew a lot to me.

Drovers, or a drovers road, I would assign a different meaning to. It may also mean a lot, but it probably means something like migrants.

No. A drover is someone who drives livestock to market. It's an English term, and it is closely connected with the term "grazier". A grazier is a farmer who specialises in fattening sheep and cattle for market.

 

[Finchbearer]

Circus troupes are also interesting.

Ooh how did I forget about this??

 

[Finchbearer]

We still have old drovers roads where I live, the term of which I have used in one of my works. But my understanding of them was more of locality - farmer droving their cattle or flocks to other pasture.

As MadSwede points out, this is what drivers roads are used for, or more commonly were used for.

 

[Queshire]

He slew them in droves, means he slew a lot to me.

Drovers, or a drovers road, I would assign a different meaning to. It may also mean a lot, but it probably means something like migrants.

The herds of cattle a drover drives to market have a lot of cows in them so that's where the connection to a lot comes from.

 

[pmmg]

Noticed no one complained about slew.

 

[Queshire]

??? What's there to complain about?

 

[skip.knox]

We slayed the slew. A slew is nearly as bad as a grue, but they never attack in droves.

 

[pmmg]

We slayed the slew. A slew is nearly as bad as a grue, but they never attack in droves.

Too late.

 

[Jackarandajam]

We slayed the slew. A slew is nearly as bad as a grue, but they never attack in droves.

In the slough?

 

[Renè Williams]

As MadSwede points out, this is what drivers roads are used for, or more commonly were used for.

Paris Rubaix?

 

[Renè Williams]

Paris Rubaix?

Tour of flanders?
Cobblestone roads? LOVELY