Wednesday 19 January 2011

The Meow Factor

There are hundreds (probably thousands) of books, blogs, magazines and pamphlets detailing the many and various ways that cats communicate, both with each other, and also with us - mere bipeds who have the Defective Gene and lost their fur.

Now I know I'm a pigmy in the sphere of cat communication (it wasn't covered in first year linguistics at uni in 1987).  However, I believe that during the last three years I have picked up enough basic cat to more-or-less understand what Austin wants; and he has employed his highly developed superior intellect to penetrate the amorphous mass that passes for a brain in this exceedingly dense human to make sure that I do. He, of course, understands every word I say!

A short glossary of Pidgin Cat as understood by Inferior Human:

Chirrup - greeting when he enters room, and is not ignored by human. This is generally followed by some serious tickling under the chin and murmurings of sweet nothings from both feline and human before discussing the menu for lunch.

Mee NOW! - greeting when he enters room and is (accidentally) ignored by human. This is generally accompanied by a cacophonous crepitation of claws on carpet.

Mee ewe - plaintive call when left outside (accidentally) for one second longer than the specified time.

Yee OWL! - very cross - expletive deleted - when left outside (accidentally) for more than two seconds after the specified time.
meowmeowmeowmeowmeyat! - megamoan of intense displeasure all the way from the next street after being left outside for some considerable time after the specified time, necessitating him to have to fend for himself without a furless two-legged snivelling menial on hand to satisfy his every whim.

So when life's traumas become overwhelming, one needs a moment with one's teddy.

21 comments:

  1. Have signed Austin up to Twitter so he can tweet along with all the other really cool moggies He'll love it.
    tweet/meow...tweet/meow .......

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  2. meooooooooowwwwweeeeee!!!
    when you tread on his paw,lol

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  3. That picture is so sweet!

    Interestingly, I have a friend who can understand her dogs in much the same way. The other day I was faced with a growling mastiff, only to be told that the thunderous noise I heard was in fact his "playful growl". Haha what?!

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  4. Thanks Marjorie lol, but we really shouldn't encourage him :)

    Actually Cyn that noise is the one I make when I tread on his paw lolol

    Sarah yeah well a mastiff is massif! Great pic isn't it. Must take some more, but it's difficult as he's such a diva!!

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  5. I do find it amusing that my friend has three dogs, all of varying degrees of temper, yet I've only ever been bitten by a cat! D:

    Animal pics are tricky except when it comes to my friend's gold lab Kandi, who will actually sit and pose!

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  6. I'd made the mistake with a previous cat in playing with him quite roughly and ended up with a lot of war wounds! With Austin, I've only ever been gentle with him, so he knows when I lift my hand to him, he is only going to be stroked or tickled! Consequently when I brush him, which he loves, he lets me without giving in to his more primal instincts!

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  7. The offending cat in my case had no excuse D:
    He climbed onto the sofa, lay on the blanket that my friend and I were sharing and I started to gently stroke him. Next thing I know he leaps forward and digs his teeth into my wrist!
    Guess I was distracting him from the film...

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  8. thank you for defining all of the different cat sounds for us! This was extremely interesting!

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  9. Always aim to be helpful, Caren :>) lol

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  10. Meeee Wow!!!.....means...Wow! I'm very impressed with Austins ability to teach you his language. Of course we could ALL understand the animals back in the Garden of Eden...Sigh...just another loss...BUT...one day ALL things will be NEW.(or is that MEW?) Imagine the conversations with Austin then!!

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  11. Haha :-)

    Well, what about the absurd noises he makes when he's happy? I suppose those can't be typed with a human keyboard.....

    xx

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  12. No, not so easy Dave ! I've never known a cat be quite so vocal and you're right, they are absurd, but very comforting somehow x

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  13. 'tis true! They are luvverly and warm sounds.... which is odd, because sounds are rarely warm :-)

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  14. I love the Pidgin Cat! It must have come from your linguistics training! I would say it is quite accurate! :) Now that you understand Austin might give you some respect! ;)

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  15. lol Ann, respect? I doubt it. He will now only converse in advanced NePAWlese as spoken in CATmandu!!

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  16. I so love to read your blogs Carolyn. Now that I have a new computer I can blog again. My old one was so slow it was impossible!!!!

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  17. So good to see you again Jan :>) I was really worried! Look forward to getting inspiration from you once again x

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  18. These are great, Carolyn! I love how they have different mews for different needs/emotions. Your kitty looks like my Cosmo -- I love those cute little tuxies :)

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  19. hi Angie, thanks for popping by :) By my reckoning there are at least 30 vocalisations cats use for us dim humans lol. Just went over and looked at Cosmo's profile. They could be twins (almost). I love tuxies (and tabbys :)

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