Cherry And Garcia Are Two Words Right There

In spite of an onslaught of bad weather (aka New York in January), things here have been pretty good. The Jets won. The Dead And The Gone was shortlisted for an award in Australia. I am still an Aquarius. And did I mention, the Jets won?

The New York Times had a very interesting article today about a dog named Chaser with a vocabulary of 1000 or so words. I was particularly intrigued since my own vocabulary is also 1000 or so words, with 12% being the names of ice cream flavors.

Naturally Scooter, as a cat, speaks flawless French, and he's been giving a great deal of thought to German, in preparation for the German publication of The Dead And The Gone.



It's a given that since Scooter is a cat, he'd be smarter than any old dog, but I figured I'd give him a little test to make sure our lingua francas (that's a new Baskin Robbins flavor) matched up.

So here are a few phrases I use regularly with him and his what he believes those phrases actually mean.

You are the cutest cat ever.

If George Clooney had four legs and a tail and whiskers, he still would come up short compared to you.

I love it when you purr.

I love it when you destroy my furniture.

Eww, you used your litter.

Ooh, you used your litter.

It hurts when you scratch me.

Pain and suffering are necessary adjuncts to spiritual growth.

Scooter, don't bite me!

Scooter, bite me!

I love you, Scooter!

Well, of course!