Failure to Communicate
MAX
Failure to communicate with our humans seems to be a hot topic right now, and I want to point out right off, the failure is NOT on our part. For instance, yesterday I was visiting with Mom, rubbing on her legs and saying hi to her. She reached down to pat me and said "How's my good boy? How about a claw trim, Max?".
I replied "Mmmmrppph", which she interpreted to mean "Why of course, Mom. I love being grabbed and held in a headlock to have my claws trimmed. In fact, aside from having that chicken flavored junk rubbed on my teeth, it's just about my favorite thing ever! Let's do it right now!".
What I actually said was "No way. Seeya!" and I ran off before she could grab me.
Since I know I was speaking quite clearly, I think what we have here is a classic case of interspecies failure to communicate . You all understand what "Mmmmrppph" means, right?
Well, apparently humans don't.
posted by The Crew @ 7:09 AM
11Meows By You
11 Comments:
They really don't get that we like our claws like they are. How else are we supposed to stretch and pick at the furniture?
--Jasper
Yes, my human often misinterprets that signal. I hate it when you are having a good moment like you were and then suddenly, they decide to do something horrible like that.
I fink it's my accent. I'm from central Whiskonsin, or "up nort", and my bean parents are from Catifornia. So when I say "Mmmmrppph", they seem to think I said "Mmmmmrrpph". Bonnie's from Baraboo, so we haf our own dialect problems.
I've known "mmmmrppph" to mean "No way. Seeya!" (like you used it), but also "Uh-uh...I don't think so!" and "If you think that's gonna happen, you have another thing comin', sister!"
No matter how one chooses to use it, it has never, nor will ever mean, "Yes, please. I would like my nails trimmed!"
Mom seems to know merrowww means feed me but doesn't know that mmmmmrrrpph means "what the...?"
Perhaps your human pet mistook the emphasis on the last syllable. Your Mmmmmrppph means exactly as you put it: No way. See yah! But maybe she heard Mmmmmrppph which would have been "Sure, I will have another cup of tea." Using her context clues, she deduced that you meant shorter claws and not another cup proceeded to clip away without even bothering to offer you a spot of tea.
These linguistical mistakes are bound to happen when our language is filled with minute high frequency sounds that homo sapiens can't even perceive, let alone understand.
I really think they understand, they just choose not to....our language is so simple, we spell things the way they sound and we don't have a bunch of words which are spelled the same, but mean different. No wonder the furless ones get so cranky.
Patches Lady
We kitties are so much better at our second language, you would think the humums would work at understanding ours. Oh well, we can dream.
It clearly means NO. And Mmmmrppph means Mmmmrppph!!! Doesn't your Mom know that?? (Ours doesn't either. SO annoying...)
Humans are stupid. End of story.
Meow, clever kitty Bon Bon
It's probably that selective hearing thing.
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