So people go hunting a clowder of cats, a labor of moles, or an exaltation of larks, for sport and fun?
I've wondered about that too. Perhaps such terms came about much later.
My understanding is that this trend of giving ridiculous names to clusters of animals stems from old English hunting traditions--and the ridiculous bit is partly intentional! See
Terms of Venery. The sort of thing Christopher Lee and Ingrid Pitt might have sung a jaunty tune about, were
The Wicker Man to have taken a different direction.
They only exist in fiction, so shits and giggles would be the only reason to hunt them.
C'mon! Being fictional has never stopped people from taking things too seriously.
"Once Bitten" with Jim Carrey and Lauren Hutton: now that was a hoot! "Love at First Bite" with George Hamilton: Another!
As for TV: "Angel," with David Boreanaz and Charisma Carpenter, ran from 1999 to 2004. That was one of the three best fantasy shows ever. (The other two were "Highlander" and "Witchblade," which unfortunately self-destructed when Yancy Butler couldn't stay sober.)
Still, I maintain that vampires ceased to be attractive by the early 1980's--it's partly the hairstyles, but also the fact that Hammer ceased production for a couple of decades.
The dictionary only lists one definition: furrowed, striped, streaked, i.e., marked with striae. What other definition is there that would be approved in edited writing? Even Wikipedia doesn't list an alternative and it has no standards at all. (It can't: I've written Wikipedia articles.)
That's the one, albeit used in very different contexts. The term was first employed in philosophy, probably by Brian Massumi (translating Deleuze), but quickly spread to psychology, political science, architecture and, of course,
literary studies. I maintain that the literary studies folk--some of them, not all-- misuse the term. Speculation:
they do so deliberately--I will not elaborate upon this.
Here's a brief, slightly incoherent primer:
"Smooth space" exists in contrast to "striated space"— a partitioned field of movement which prohibits free motion. Smooth space refers to an environment, a landscape (vast or microscopic) in which a subject operates. Deleuze and Guattari explain:
Smooth space is filled by events or haecceities, far more than by formed and perceived things. It is a space of affects, more than one of properties. It is haptic rather than optical perception. Whereas in striated forms organize a matter, in the smooth materials signal forces and serve as symptoms for them. It is an intensive rather than extensive space, one of distances, not of measures and properties. Intense Spatium instead of Extensio. A Body without Organs instead of an organism and organization. (479)
Conducive to rhizomatic growth and nomadic movement, smooth space consists of disorganized matter and tends to provoke a sensual or tactical response rather than a starkly rational method of operation or a planned trajectory.
(from
here)
If you should pursue the matter, you'll find many a parallel with the curious literary habits of habits of late medieval landed sorts.