Jane's parrot

[janestory]

My parrot

[luke]

A very handsome parrot, and similar to what like I imagined when I checked you parrot post. What did you say its name was again?

Let's see if we can encourage others to post a picture.

[Cayte]

Hi Jane and Luke,

   I haven't gotten a photo to share just yet; maybe in the near future.

   Your little bird is a handsome one, indeed, Jane. I raised the very same kind of birds when I was in Thailand but Thai people call it "Mynah" bird. Parrots in Thailand have green colour mixed with yellow; they have long tails and funny looking beaks that point toward their chest (sorry I can't think of the word to describe their beaks). Of course, both kinds of birds can be taught to speak like a nobleman or to curse like a street person. It's up to their owners.

    I assumed my two birds were both boys so I named them 'Jack'.  I was too lazy to come up with two different names; beside, I didn't want to confuse them.  It had taken them a couple of weeks before they finally greeted me. They would say, "Hello" or "Hi, Jack" even to my mother. I tried to introduce them a new word like, "Good morning" but it didn't work well. I cut it short just "morning'. They finally figured out how to speak 3 different phrases.

    My aunt came over one weekend and was very impressed with the birds; she took one of my Jacks home with her. It turned out that he just quited talking completely.  Poor Jack!! Six months after moving to a new home, he finally let something out, "Meow.. Meow". I wasn't sure if a cat was trying to have Jack for dinner or he was making friend with her.

    Back to the ranch, I figured that Jack must have been pretty lonely. I bought another bird to keep him company. This time I didn't have to do the teaching. He taught his new friend to greet people. Maybe the new bird just got sick of hearing Jacking yanking all day long so he fought back with his voice. As you may guess, the new bird's name was Jack, too. I didn't name him, but the old Jack did.

[janestory]

Hi Cayte,

It's really funny to read your post about your birds. It gives me a proof that birds  learn quickly when they teach each other by themselves. My husband and I  discussed it before as we thought our parrot was a little slow to learn words. Actually, it was none of business on my parrot. It was our fault since we have little time to teach her

In fact, my bird is also a sort of Mynah,which is called Hill Mynah,and original comes from Vietnam. Parrots are more beautiful than mynahs:) They sound differently. Parrots pronounce with their tongue and Myahs sound by their throats. As we know, if we want a parrot to speak,its tongue must be cut first.

Jane

[janestory]

Hi Luke,

My parrot has a name which sounds negatively,like a nickname. In China we often name a nickname which sounds negatively to express how we like it.

Do you know what I mean? Do English people have the similar custom?


Jane

[luke]

Hi Jane,

Afraid not, the only time we use negative sounding words is when we are poking fun at others. It's possible that the fun is very light-hearted, with names like 'smelly, stinky, shorty, etc.' but they have to be said gently so as not to cause offense.