Animal Accents

August 25, 2006 5:19 AM

We're Schleswig-Holsteins, darling.(Ah, from the Low Countries.) Cows have accents. Some other animals with accents: birds, otters, frogs, monkeys.
posted by pracowity (13 comments total)

In Somerset, the cows have a drawl because they're drunk on stomach-fermented apples.
posted by riotgrrl69 at 5:23 AM on August 25, 2006

No other posts tagged with 'moo'?

*disappointed*
posted by randomination at 5:35 AM on August 25, 2006

This is typical silly-season bullshit. See Mark Liberman (MeFi's myl) at Language Log for refutation, if you need it.
posted by languagehat at 7:37 AM on August 25, 2006

Shh! British farmers say it's true, so it must be true.
posted by pracowity at 7:54 AM on August 25, 2006

The scientist's story is a hoot, languagehat. Thanks for that.

I was telephoned by a public relations consultant on behalf of a cheese manufacturing company in Somerset. Was it possible, they asked, that the local cows might moo with a west-of-England accent? I told them that I thought it was highly unlikely, but that there had been serious research showing that various species of bird exhibit geographical variation in their calls. And if birds and human beings have local accents, you can't entirely rule out that cows might too.

The PR company issued a press release. They showed it to me only after they had sent it out...

And he has a blog, of course.
posted by mediareport at 7:58 AM on August 25, 2006

Take heart, pracowity, in the fact that it was one of the funniest posts I'd read in a while. Darling. :)
posted by mediareport at 8:00 AM on August 25, 2006

As a former resident of England's west country, and as someone who frequently had cows in my backyard, I can tell you in all honestly that they have west country accents. Devon accents, specifically. One cow will say "Moo," and the next will say, "Ooh arr."
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:16 AM on August 25, 2006

Keep clear of the moooooors.
posted by pracowity at 8:20 AM on August 25, 2006

considering that the state is called Schleswig-Holstein, shouldn't it be "we're Schleswig-Holsteiner"?

then again, when I was growing up in that place (Flensburg to be precise), the folks from the south would call is just Fischköppe anyway.

sort of means fishheads.
posted by krautland at 8:53 AM on August 25, 2006

Maybe. But I was imagining a cow speaking (in accented English, of course) as if her name was Schleswig-Holstein. Holsteins are a kind of cow, Schleswig-Holstein is in the Low Countries, and "low" = "moo" = teh funny, and... aw, forget it.

Moo. Mu. μ
posted by pracowity at 9:08 AM on August 25, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Tangentially related: Cows enjoy showtunes.
posted by Iridic at 9:49 AM on August 25, 2006

languagehat, that was worth it just for the phrase "Consider a perfectly spherical cow, radiating milk isotropically."
posted by small_ruminant at 10:27 AM on August 25, 2006

look, pracowity made a funny.

:-)
posted by krautland at 10:35 AM on August 25, 2006