Yadda Yadda to my cats

I'm sure your cats, like ours, talk to you. At our place Emily is the
gabbiest. And of course, like us, you probably reply to them. It's odd.
We enjoy these human-cat conversations but we really don't know exactly
what each other is saying. It's probably our fault. Catspeak is
incredibly complex. Not given our dexterity of tongue and lips, cats do
very well not only with body language, but with the infinite variety of
vocal sounds and volume they can produce. They mutter, they croon, they
cajole, they yell at us, and we immediately get the message. But I'm
sure our monotonous human jumble of sounds is virtually meaningless to
them. Only one word means anything to our cats - their names. They're
listening to our tone of voice, its volume, and watching our body
movements. So I experimented with "cat sentences". First I tried things
like "Blah blah blah, Martha", or "Dum de dum de dum, Sophie." Very
little reaction. But then I remembered a catch phrase from one of our
favourite sitcoms, Seinfeld. "Yadda yadda, Emily," I said. "Yadda
yadda!" She brightened immediately and meowed her reply! I'm only glad
you can't overhear our conversations now - or worse, record them!

MatSav...

I recall seeing a TV programme where a funny lady claimed she could speak
cat. I copied her turn of phrase - "Mmmow ppprp Maa ppprp?". That usually
bring Mrs Cat to see me for some scritches and an upside-downy-head thing as
she lays in my arms :-)

Jane...

Rita gets all excited when I say 'Where's your mousie?' and lately,
'Where's your bear!', but she doesn't run and get them. Apparently the
word 'mousie' means Fun and Games to her.
That reminds me, it's time to get another bag. She's chewed up another
dozen.

Jane
- owned and operated by Princess Rita

Kreisleriana...

Like the famous "Far Side" cartoon-- "Blah, Ginger, Blah Blah Blah,
Ginger." ;)

jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt...

I was just talking about this in another post. I love it that my
friends put that into a book.

What I love is when the two legged types around here are talking, and
one or another of the four-legged members of the household will butt
in, and Mom never misses a beat. "Who asked you?" she says, or
"Another county heard from."

jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt...

I've always loved that "another county heard from". You might want to
tell your mom that I have borrowed that phrase myself occasionally. I
then make a point to tell people where I got it. :)

Kreisleriana...

I'm fond of it myself. My mother got it from my grandmother. The
idea of applying it to the cats always makes me giggle.

Shel-hed...

Dang! What does it mean, or where does it come from?
IOW, I don't get it!
I sort of sounds like people listening in on party lines, then blowing their
cover when they just can't hold their opinion.

Kreisleriana...

It refers to election returns. Then it became an expression that
people used when someone offered an opinion, usually unasked-for. So
your interpretation is really close.

Theresa

Make Levees, Not War

My grandmother was the source of all kinds of smart-alecky
expressions, right out of a 30s screwball comedy, like a character
played by Joan Blondell or Barbara Stanwyck. Talk about a New Yorker--
or a Brooklyn girl, to be more accurate. ;)

Theresa

Make Levees, Not War

Both boys are chatty, and I really get the sense that it has something
to do with the amount of talking that goes on around here. Stinky,
first, then Dante, seem to have got the idea that the important thing
is getting a word in, even if it's just a meow. Or a "nyow-wow!" ;)

jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt...

They're such New Yorkers. :)

Bobcat...

Theresa, try "Yadda Yadda" on Stinky and Dante. It should connect with
them, considering that you can't get more New York than its source,
Seinfeld!

Theresa

Make Levees, Not War

jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt...

This is a bit off-topic from what you're saying, but this reminds me
of something. Two friends of mine recently collaborated on one of those
"For Dummies" books (the Python programming language, for anyone who's
interested). It's now published. I was looking through it, and was very
amused to see, in a section dealing with quoted text strings, the
phrase "Blah blah blah Ginger" as an example. :)