flotilla

\floh-TILL-uh\

noun

1: a fleet of ships or boats; especially :a navy organizational unit consisting of two or more squadrons of small warships
2: an indefinite large number

FLOTILLA is a word like swarm or pack or flock that suggests a lot of one thing. In this case: ships.

Others like this:

drove

herd

gaggle

school

army

horde

throng

crowd

lot

mob

gang

peck

Each word applies to one or more specific objects, i.e. gaggle of geese, or peck of pickled peppers. This makes for entertaining juxtapositions when one puts the form of the collective with an unexpected variety of the collected:

a swarm of furniture stores

a flock of bored housewives

a FLOTILLA of Hummer stretch limos

This last example occurs in downtown Portland on the occasional Saturday night outside clubs like The Dixie Tavern.

*

I have attached to this blog a video explaining the virtual game of FLOTILLA, complete with english subtitles for those who cannot understand...perfect English (or who are hard of hearing). I especially enjoy the background music.