OT: Apologies and Processes

Hope the medical procedure has a really good effect long-term. . In message , Jack Campin

- bogus address writes

Glad to hear all is well, Jack. Take care and keep us posted.

Sunny

Once had a Dachshund/Beagle mix. Colored like a Beagle, floppy ears like a Beagle, but long bodied and short legged like a Dachshund. When viewed from the rear, he looked like the stereotypical picture of a Cowboy - very bow-legged. So, his name was Cowboy!

Donna in SW Idaho

We have two Rhodesian Ridgebacks. #1 is Ruffles (The Lady Ruffles) she has a ridge. #2 is Rhoda the obvious because she has no ridge. The Maine Coon Cat is Pinkee (Pinkee Squeek-a-Lotta) she has a pink nose and squeaks. If Rhoda had been a male he would have been DeeOhGee.

Our original dog and cat at this house were Dayzee the collie and Mickey Mouth the cat, he had big ears, was loud and would bite the hand that fed him.

Bonnie, in Middletown, VA

That all depends on what Splodge, or *a* splodge as the case may be,

*is*... 8^P

Why do those not surprise me? (BWAHAHAHAHA!)

There may be hope for you yet, Jack! :-)

That's good. Could have been much worse, but anything that serious is understandably disconcerting.

Doc

Is that still correct? I heard that when the country changed its name, the name of the breed was changed to Zimbabwean Zipperbacks...

==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === ==== Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557 CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

****** I killfile Google posts - email me if you want to be whitelisted ******

Not being a cat person myself (that *is* supposed to be a cat, right?) "Furball" or "Dustbunny" comes to mind. OTOH, it looks as much like something a cat might have yacked up as much as a cat itself, so yeah... apart from "Hairball", Splodge works...

Doc

Dogs can get used to a totally different name. When we lived in Germany, we acquired a darling wirehaired dachshund of about 2 years of age. He understood only German language, and he had a very odd Italian name. (I can't recall it.) The kids named him Scruffy because he was "Scruffing around the porch" ... even before he came into the house. I think they got the meaning of the word Scruff wrong, but hey the name worked and the dog soon learned his new name and the words Eat and Walk!! Grins, Pat in Virginia

Sherry

Chocolate. Coffee. Cocoa. Brownie.

PAT in VA/USA

Brown dog - what is brown? Do we really want to go there? 8^P

Doc

Oh, Sherry, Sherry, Sherry...

Where to begin... Dogs don't understand "languages" at all; they recognize and associate sounds/phonetics (they're generally better with hard consonants and 2 syllables or less, though there are exceptions). Nationality, ethnicity, or dialect have no import to them. You could make up complete nonsense words and a dog would understand them just as well as long as an association were made.

We were watching old WB cartoons one day, and a Pete Puma cartoon came on (only 2 were ever made so they're something of a novelty). DW & I exclaimed together, "Pete Puma!" and Boomer went absolutely apescat. We laughed our heads off as we said it a few more times and he went through all kinds of antics, getting more and more excited each time. Then it dawned on us. "Pete Puma" is phonetically *very* similar to the phrase "feed Boomer", which he knew *very* well.

He had a similar response to the phrase "foot stinky" (I don't even recall how that one came up...) but we never did figure out the phonetic association.

Doc

Sorry! That should have been "Pat, Pat, Pat..."

Doc

Most of our pets too came from the SPCA - except for a few

*donations*. :-) We just recently adopted a German Shepherd mix - he came with the name Duncan which we seem to shorten to Dunk all the time. I had so many names picked out when we decided to adopt a new pet, but we're just fine with this guy's name. He is learning so quickly - walking on the leash can be a bit tough yet, but that will come. He just loves being out in the yard with us when we're working out there - we keep the leash on him just in case he spots a bunny or a cat, but so far he hasn't made any attempts to leave the property. He's such a good boy and we love him to pieces already.

Sharon (N.B.) - who is getting everything pink she can find to wear this afternoon when her sister Sandy rolls a pink wheelbarrow full of pennies she's collected all year from family & friends in support of the Run for The Cure - she's a 14-yr survivor.

Doc, this is probably the same process that sends Jo bonkers when we start singing Happy Birthday, but we can't figure out what the "trigger" is. We don't think he ever got a piece of cake tossed to him during the singing, or immediately after. It has to remind him of something, cuz we can sing HB even without a cake or candles and the doof goes crazy. Ah well, wouldn't you love to know what they're thinking.....

Sunny

WOOD EYE! (Really bad old joke...) I... have a little habit of making up little 2-line ditties as I'm working on this or that - the kind Durante or Geo. Burns used to twinkle on the piano in their stage acts. I started doing that with Fudge this week and he LOVES when I sing softly to him on my lap. Our past 2 dogs just ignored me but this li'l tyke is different (as we expected). DW had him in her lap last night and noticed he was following her bouncing screensaver. Boomer used to get really agitated whenever wolves came on cable; not dogs - just wolves. Just like people, you never know just what'll set em off...

Doc

Well, I KNOW that, Doc! BTDT. I was 'speaking' concisely and figured this intelligent audience would understand that I actually meant that the dog had been trained to respond to certain words, and we taught him to respond to new words, including his name. The reason for my brief explanation about Scruffy, and now in response to your note? This is the internet newsgroup, and I don't go in for overlong messages. Pat, Pat, Pat in Virginia, Virginia, Virginia PS: Foot 'sounds like' food. Dogs LOVE the word food!

Oh, Sherry, Sherry, Sherry...

Where to begin... Dogs don't understand "languages" at all; they recognize and associate sounds/phonetics (they're generally better with hard consonants and 2 syllables or less, though there are exceptions). Nationality, ethnicity, or dialect have no import to them. You could make up complete nonsense words and a dog would understand them just as well as long as an association were made.

We were watching old WB cartoons one day, and a Pete Puma cartoon came on (only 2 were ever made so they're something of a novelty). DW & I exclaimed together, "Pete Puma!" and Boomer went absolutely apescat. We laughed our heads off as we said it a few more times and he went through all kinds of antics, getting more and more excited each time. Then it dawned on us. "Pete Puma" is phonetically *very* similar to the phrase "feed Boomer", which he knew *very* well.

He had a similar response to the phrase "foot stinky" (I don't even recall how that one came up...) but we never did figure out the phonetic association.

Doc

Ok Pat, My apologies.

I'm trying to locate an article about a study that allegedly shows what a poor medium of communication newsgroups & emails are. Supposedly something like up to 90% of what we write/read is miscommunicated and/or misconstrued. It should prove interesting reading if I can ever find it...

Doc