I think one of the funniest things I’ve accidentally taught my parrot is yelling “WHAT?”
The best part is that if he says something weird and and someone else says “what???” he usually repeats what he just said.
Like just now, I was cooking in the kitchen and he heard me boiling water so he asked “you wanna noodle?” but I couldn’t quite hear him so I yelled “WHAT” and he repeated “you wanna noodle?”
Mostly he just likes yelling it, though.
Less funny things I’ve accidentally taught my parrot:
- to make the smoke detector noise every time someone makes toast
- to make gross eating noises at us when he wants us to share our food
- to announce that he is about to poop just about every time he poops
- to demand payment in the form of peanuts for every instance of good behavior
- no seriously he says “I get a peanut” every single time and gets VERY MAD if not given a peanut
……LESS funny??!??????
The thought of this parrot declaring “I get a peanut” for good behaviour like he’s stating an immutable natural law that must never be disputed is sustaining me through this day. I was a good parrot. I get a peanut. That is how it is. That is how it always has been.
That’s exactly what he means when he says it. It’s not a request. It’s a statement of fact. These days he says it preemptively as a way of ensuring that he will be paid for his efforts. Like if you ask him to step up somewhere or go back in his cage he’ll say “I get a peanut” before he does it to make sure you agree to give him one.
My question is… Does he revolt if you DON’T give him his peanut?
He used to get really angry if he did something expecting a peanut and we said “no, no peanut” because he’d been really rude (bitey, screechy, generally hostile body language) about it previously or he’d already had a whole bunch of peanuts. Since he’s started saying “I get a peanut?” beforehand, if we respond with “no peanut” he generally just decides not to do it.
He often announces something like “step up and get a peanut?” if he’s already had a bunch of peanuts and he knows he’ll have to do something to earn one. Unfortunately, he also causes trouble (furniture destruction, usually) explicitly for the purposes of suggesting “Ripley go back and get a peanut?” when we scold him, because he knows we’re going to want him to go back in his cage, and he always wants a reward for going back in his cage.
that parrot is running a hostage situation
We do literally refer to him “holding the couch hostage” when he decides he’s going to make holes in the cushions until we attempt to bribe him to go back into his cage.
Ripley: I go back in cage, get a peanut?
Human: Sorry, we’re out of peanuts
Ripley:
