Commenter BethanyAnne sent me this awhile ago. (I am playing catch-up on my email.)
In her own words.
I have something that might make a fun distraction or off-topic post.
You know those buttons that dogs can be trained to press? They play an English word, and that way the dog can “speak” to their human.
Author Mary Robinette Kowal has taught her cat, Elsie, to use those buttons. Elsie is up to a 120 word vocabulary. And she rearranges the words and such in a way that indicates she knows what she’s saying.
The podcast “The Allusionist” did 2 episodes about this:
https://www.theallusionist.org/lexicat1
https://www.theallusionist.org/allusionist/lexicat2
I also found that Mary Robinette posts videos of Elsie using the buttons on YouTube.
I’ve watched about half of the videos, and this was the absolute bestest of them all:
This whole thing sounded like a topic the Balloon Juice crew would love. If you make a thread, I hope Werebear notices it.
Watch some of the videos. This is wild!
Mostly open thread.
Cats Apparently Not About To Be Outdone by DogsPost + Comments (40)