My grandmother told my cousin, a military man, that all the greatest wisdom in life came from animals. At first we thought she was talking about /r/adviceanimals, but then he received the following mysterious missive in her will...
2 Answers
The pictures, in order, are:
1. A herd, mob or troop of kangaroos. (Image is tagged "Kangaroos")
2. A troop or shrewdness of apes. (Image is tagged "Various Cinematic Great Apes")
3. A scourge of mosquitoes. (Image is tagged "Insectoid Vampires")
4. An army, colony or knot of frogs. (Image is tagged "Frogs")
5. A wisdom of wombats. (Image is tagged "Wombats")
added mob for kangaroos (thanks @Dan Russell) and colony/knot for frogs
Adding in the connecting words,
(Herd/Mob/Troop) (troop/shrewdness) is the scourge of (army/colony/knot) wisdom.
Selecting the most sensible sounding set of words from the alternatives:
Mob shrewdness is the scourge of army wisdom.
I think this maybe is intended to mean, roughly,
Mob mentality is the scourge of army intelligence.
Since your cousin is a military man, that sort of makes sense.
By the same principle, the title is
The unkindness of ostentation - confirmed by OP.
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$\begingroup$ Kangaroos can also apparently be a mob. Title? A conspiracy/unkindness of ostentation/muster? $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 13, 2016 at 20:19
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$\begingroup$ Sconibulus Sconibulus 21:38 I actually had "Troop Shrewdness is the Scourge of Army Wisdom", which is a paraphrasing of something I read once which my brain has over the years paraphrased to "The Army Way and a clever recruit are sworn enemies" Close enough, it's English, so here's a check. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 15, 2016 at 2:39
Super partial(though it might help someone)
The images shown are-
1. Kangaroos/Flock
2. Planet of Apes/Apes is the
3. Disease/Malaria/Virus/Mosquitoes/Zika of
4. Baby Frogs/Toads
5. Australian Wombat
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$\begingroup$ Those aren't baby frogs/toads. Tadpoles have tails and no legs. Those are very small adults. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 13, 2016 at 17:20
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$\begingroup$ Pic #1: A group of kangaroos are called a herd, or a troop. (Also, it's entirely plausible that those are grasshoppers.) As long as I'm at it, the images in the post are tagged as follows: "Kangaroos"; "Various Cinematic Great Apes"; "Insectoid Vampires"; "Frogs"; "Wombats". $\endgroup$– Rubio ♦Commented Dec 13, 2016 at 17:28