Dear Pablo,As Monica has mentioned in a previous post, most people do not have a very good grasp on the subtle nuances of the Meow language. This causes a big communication gap between feline and human that can be very frustrating on a day-to-day basis. I thought it might be helpful to give a beginners orientation to Meow basics.
Meow meaning is conveyed in a complex manner. It is more than just the words that are used, but also the tone, inflexion and body language that are used. There is also a vibrative component to the Meow language that is difficult for humans to grasp. Here are some phrases that are used commonly in our household:
1. Mmmph (accompanied by an upward stretch against some nearby furniture in a human's presence) = good morning, have you petted me yet today?
2. Mee-ow? (given when the human enters your house) = welcome home, have you petted me yet today?
3. Mmmmyew! = I see that you are going Outside, can I come too?
4. Myoooooooorrwww! = Let me go Outside!!
5. Myow?... Myow?... Myow?... = There is something that needs your attention. Can you guess what it is? (food, water, litter box maintenance, petting a cat)
6. Mrrrow (vibratory) = I don't like it when you do that.
7. Mmmm (vibratory) = I love you. ( This phrase is reserved for rare occassions. You don't want your people to get too big in the head.)
I hope this has been helpful. If your people have a hard time understanding Meow, please encourage them to read this post.
10 comments:
Thank you for the lesson in Meow. I will study it and try to remember it.
Mom said that was very helpful. I'll see how good of a student she was later.
Phoebe, that was a very astute explanation of the many nuances of Meow. Personally, I'm a big fan of the Mmmph. I don't know if it's an Aussiecat thing, but I use the Mmmph when I'm losing my patience with Nick and Kate. Usually in the hours leading up to feeding time.
I am giving this to my Mommie to study!
Great lesson. Life suddenly makes more sense now :)
hehehe, that's a great lesson in Mrowish! You did a great job -- maybe you should call your course Meowish 101. My MAOs fit really good into the Meows you desckribed. Of course Dorydoo would need an appendix bekause she kommunicates mostly in SQUEEKIES (my sistur is furry funny).
Kittyhugs and purrs from MaoMao!
I totally agree ... Inflection is monumentally important when speaking Meow ... Humans just don't get the subtle nuances.
DMM
Great stuff Monica. W3 am going to make our Mom read this right away, so she can understand us even better!
Your FL furiends,
PS: Sorry Phoebe! (wrong name)
Samantha & Tigger
That was excellent! I'm making Mom study this right now.
Tara
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