1023
submitted 2 years ago by Facelikeapotato@lemmy.ml to c/cat@lemmy.world
top 41 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world 110 points 2 years ago

OP doesn't know what the word "jargon" means.

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 43 points 2 years ago

Or they’ve only heard jargon from outside their expertise.

[-] Hackerman_uwu@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago

I mean. Is the word “jargon” jargon for people who are into linguistics?

[-] Facelikeapotato@lemmy.ml 30 points 2 years ago

Yeah, nonsense would've been a better word. Or word salad, it doesn't get said enough.

[-] TheDoozer@lemmy.world 29 points 2 years ago

I think you were looking for "gibberish."

[-] Bebo@sffa.community 4 points 2 years ago

Exactly what I was thinking. "jargon" to be replaced by gibberish.

[-] glibg10b@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

I had this exact same thought. I think "jargon" in the original post should be "gibberish".

[-] jscummy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago

Not sure if that's right. To me, it seems like OP meant to say "gibberish" instead of "jargon"

[-] ledtasso@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

I had precisely the same idea. I suppose "jargon" should have been "gibberish."

[-] Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 2 years ago

Wernicke's aphasia.

[-] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 95 points 2 years ago

Something I once read is that different cats don't seem to use exactly the same noise to mean the same thing, ie, one cat might use a certain sort of meow to show that it is hungry, but another cat might use a similar meow to show that they want attention. Further, that wild cats usually stop making many such noises after they grow up, but domestic ones keep using them to communicate with people. If this is true, then the cat noises don't really represent a cat language as such since each individual cat would have it's own different set of vocabulary it develops in an attempt to get humans to understand it, being forced to resort to being all dramatic and acting like a kitten to get their message across because humans are sometimes too clueless to understand their body language.

[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 55 points 2 years ago

This is true, and it's absolutely fascinating, because it's literally the birth of a tiny language every time. The cat makes noise and notices that the human does something it wants, which makes the cat associate the noise with the action. The human hears the noise repeatedly and notices that the cat is happy about what they are doing, so they associate the noise with the action. It's a shared language between two individuals, which is just so precious!

[-] ericisshort@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Your explanation is so precious!

[-] thorbot@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago
[-] Restaldt@lemm.ee 7 points 2 years ago

MYYYYYYYYYY PREEEEECIOUS

[-] Daeraxa@lemmy.ml 22 points 2 years ago

I've got two cats who are sisters and they indeed have very different meows, not just sound but how they use them. One has a very distinct greeting meow literally only reserved for when she hasn't seen me in a few hours that is isn't in any way replicated by her sister.

[-] Texas_Hangover@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago

Is it a "meep ippit urp rrr" kind of sound? Cause that's how mine does it.

[-] Daeraxa@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

No its a very high pitched 'weeoooweeeeeee'. Her sister does more of soft mew followed by a brrp.

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 years ago

i imagine it's like when we can't find the words to explain something and we just point at it and go "there, see that? that thing! over there! i'm pointing at it you dolt! aaargh!"

[-] iqwertyasdf@lemmy.world 42 points 2 years ago

Cats just meow to get our attention. Fun fact do you know that meowing is them mimicking the sounds of a baby?

[-] venoft@lemmy.world 31 points 2 years ago

Not a human baby (how could they, most cats have never seen a human baby), but as a kitten they meow to their parents to get food etc. So we're their parents now and I guess they never really grew up and became independent.

[-] joel_feila@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

Well adult cats raised around humans figure out what meows work the best and that is one that sounds like baby

[-] dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Cats meow in the same register that human babies cry. They aren't saying that cats are specifically trying to cry like a human baby, but that cats as a species have grown over thousands of years to meow in the same pitches as human babies.

[-] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 26 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Human: "Hello mister mittens! Kiss kiss kiss!"

Cat: "Coochie coo, idiot human, don't forget to feed me."

They're baby talking right back at us.

[-] Katana314@lemmy.world 18 points 2 years ago

While I'm still not sure if this is true, there was a very interesting clip I saw to support the evidence, where a tiger enclosure was somehow across the street from a farm's cow enclosure. The tigers had started "mooing" along their edge of the fence in an effort to make the juicy, meat-filled cows feel safe around them.

[-] ArtieShaw@kbin.social 8 points 2 years ago

I've also heard that cats try to mimic birds. It's one of the theories behind that weird clacking noise they make when they see prey that's out of reach.

[-] Stuka@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 years ago

No its not. You were mislead.

[-] Theharpyeagle@lemmy.world 32 points 2 years ago

Fun video from a while ago about the cat's meow ;) https://youtu.be/qeUM1WDoOGY?si=79AhTSHaMsZZ19j6

And when our cats meow, there's one thing almost every owner in the study said they did: talk back.

Honestly so adorable.

[-] JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca 18 points 2 years ago

How rude would it be if I came home and ignored my cats greeting!?

[-] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 6 points 2 years ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/qeUM1WDoOGY?si=79AhTSHaMsZZ19j6

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[-] FilthyShrooms@lemmy.world 24 points 2 years ago

my human is bilingual, but they're still getting the hang of it

[-] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 2 years ago

Well, if you were speaking actual jargon to your cat, if your cat was knowledgeable about the niche topic of discussion, surely they would respond.

[-] Lexica@yiffit.net 15 points 2 years ago

Wait.. you guys can't understand your cats?

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 19 points 2 years ago

I read a headline on the internet once (in other words: What I'm about to say is almost certainly bullshit) that cat owners can understand THEIR OWN cats.

Anecdotally as a cat owner, it seems we train each other, cat makes a noise to get attention, human gives a kind of attention when hearing that noise, cat starts making that noise to get that specific attention. My cat has a food meow, an attention meow, a bath water meow (my cat likes to drink from the tub faucet) and a "it's 3 AM and my brain can't handle it" meow, and I can definitely tell them apart. There's also a difference between the "enjoying a shoulder rub" purr and the "make me breakfast make me breakfast make me breakfast make me breakfast" purr. Hand me a different cat and that cat speaks mandarin Swahili.

[-] Hackerman_uwu@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

Basically OP is their own cats April Ludgate.

[-] rob64@startrek.website 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

"The usual? Cake and pop?" "No, April, the unusual." "Fish and pop?" "No." "Cake and fish?" "No fish!"

[-] Flaky_Fish69@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

You called?

[-] bcjin@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago
this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
1023 points (98.4% liked)

cats

20883 readers
1214 users here now

typical internet cats. videos, pics, memes welcome!

rule 1) be kind

lemmy.world rules:

other cat communities midwest.social cats

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS