What we say to dogs
-
- Okay, Ginger! I've had it! You stay out of the garbage! understand, Ginger? Stay out of the garbage, or else!
What they hear
-
- blah blah GINGER blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah GINGER blah blah blah blah...
FarSide by GaryLarson, 1983
When what you are reading starts to sound like "blah blah blah blah blah" to you, due either to your inability to understand, or the writer's inability to be clear, then it has a high
GingerFactor. When in doubt, blame the writer. Much such writing is like a cheap milk shake -- puffed up with air and thickeners to give the appearance of a delicious treat, but ultimately unsatisfying.
Wiki is cool because it gives the chance to annotate things which would normally have a very high
GingerFactor.
Say the same thing to a cat, and they hear
-
- blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...
I have a cat who recognises his name ('Bramble'). He turns his head to look at me whenever I say it, but he ignores any other two-syllable word said in the same tone of voice.
And I have two cats that recognise their names, and certain words like "no", "down", "mine" (ie I'm not giving you any of my food), "out" (which one of them actually
says to request that a door be opened), "get in the shade" (only said to the white one, who's prone to sunburn)... Of course, being cats, they treat everything as a suggestion, but they understand a lot. They recognise at least their names regardless of tone of voice, too.
Regarding the intelligence of animals, it helps to be aware of the CleverHansEffect
?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_Hans
-- The horse could do math, read multiple languages, etc. and give correct numeric answers by tapping hoof.
(...but only when the horse could see the trainer, and the trainer knew the answer. ;-)
True, but also consider "Proof of Crow Intelligence" video at this site:
http://tinyurl.com/5552y9
(50 seconds) -- crow bends a stick to get food.
Two more minutes on smart ravens:
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/animals/birds-animals/perching-birds/raven_intelligence.html
-- crows pull up and step on a string, to get the food at the end of the string.
See:
BlahBlahBlah,
OnlySayThingsThatCanBeHeard
CategoryIdiom
Ginger Factor
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(last edited November 25, 2008)