Do you know Bowlingual?. It is a small device which you can analyze what your dog say. Since I have not my dog now, I have never tried this, but my friend has a Meowlingual for her cats, and what does she say? She says she could understand cat's feeling because they have been living togethere but when she got her cat was hungry, Mewlingual said "please introduce nice guy cat to me". Hmm stupid. Anyway I am very concern Takara has a page for the Breed list of Dogs and cats. This will work for Japanese cats and American short hair, Russian Blue, Scotishfold etc,. This means if you have Bengal Cat, you can not use this Meowlingual, it means Bengal and Russian Blue talk in different language? ha ha ha funny.
Anyway this Bowlingual was said as a cool invention, then also this got a peace award of Ig Nobel Prize at Harvard University, this is the prize for "every Ig Nobel Prize winner has done something that first makes people LAUGH, then makes them THINK"
Recently another strange thing was on news, it is Thankstail. If somebody lets me merge into traffic, I blink the parking indicator to show my "thank you". This is common way in Japan. Is this same way in your country? This Thankstail show thank you by shaking its tail. Look the movie. Who need it? You need it?
I NEED one!!! However did I survive without it?
I usually use only a finger to signal when I drive. I'm into ergonomics. Heh..just kidding. I like using signals, or waving when appropriate, but lately I just mind my business since even an innocuous wave can set people off I've found. I shudder to think what my cat might be saying. I suspect he is a potty mouth. I would like to practice my simulated barks into the bowlingual though. It seems every time I bark at a neighbors dog she comes running to the fence to slobber on me..as if I were using some sort of doggy pick-up line "hey baby how about a walk?"..or something. does it stop me? no. I still bark. I must be needy.
Posted by: robert | Friday, December 17, 2004 at 02:29 PM
I would be embarrassed to use a Thankstail! Usually people in US just wave "thanks" to the person who let them merge. People here are so aggravated by traffic, people will rarely let you merge if you signal...
I have an Airedale terrier. I think she would be annoyed by Bowlingual. I ask her what she wants--usually it's a biscuit, a drink, some attention. She is suffering through Japanese lessons, too, ha ha. "o-suwari", etc.
I read in MDN "WaiWai" that the creator of Bowlingual does not like dogs, but he had to do this project because his company had already announced it for sale.
There is another famous cartoon: two dogs are sitting in front of a computer. One dog says to the other: 'On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.'
Posted by: Claire (クレア) | Friday, December 17, 2004 at 10:45 AM
Whenever I read about the Bowlingual, I always think about a funny cartoon I saw. It was titled "If Dogs Could Talk" and it showed a dog chained up to a dog house, barking. Above its head was a speech baloon showing the words it was speaking, it said, "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!..."
Posted by: Charles | Friday, December 17, 2004 at 02:22 AM
Funny!! Very cute. In the U.S., we don't use our blinkers, typically we just give a quick hand wave to say "thanks".
The tail wagging is very cute (tho I have to admit, I would never buy one)
Posted by: Tom | Friday, December 17, 2004 at 12:26 AM
i wonder if the cats like meowlinguals or if the dogs like bowlingual. i feel that less attention would be given to dogs and cats because of them. instead of concentrating on your pet's facial reaction, people might just look at the translator. and i can't say for sure but the translator is probably not accurate... Oh well, i don't have pets so i don't really know what im saying =) actually, im quite scared of them. hehe.
i think its the same for most countries, the blink a light for "thank you". although i've heard that recently, some people play "games" involving the lights. gangs wait until someone "blinks at them" unknowingly or unintentionally and they chase the car causing accidents.
Posted by: cecile | Thursday, December 16, 2004 at 10:26 PM