words spoken in cycles.

bigfellasdad

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Enzo - adopted Female CAG circa 2004. A truly amazing young lady!
Ive noticed that Enzo doesnt speak many words all of the time, rather she appears to have 'this weeks favourite word', last week it was 'cootchy cootchy coo'. She seems to have a dozen or so most often used words, 'dad, come her, bye, nite nite, give us a kiss, no!' being her most common 'in-context' words. Since Saturday her favourite word appears to be f... off! Now I run a non swearing home and apart from the odd slip this is adhered to so i cant believe she has picked it up in my care. Even more strangely she seems to use this phrase in context, when I take away something that she shouldn't be eating like a stolen chocolate biscuit or when I put her in her cage when she doesn't want to..... she normally gives a single 'hooooo' when I ask her to do something against her will, now again its 'f.... off'!
When I first got Enzo the lady gave me a few pages of tips and information about Enzo and she had mentioned that she knows this swear word and to ignore her when she says it. That was 9 months ago.

So, is this normal do you find or do your birds have a vocabulary that is used all of the time or do your birds say things in cycles like Enzo?
 
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Carl_Power

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Oct 3, 2017
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Quaker Parrot
Sounds like yours uses words in context like you said. But i think they just say what they want to say otherwise. Mine only knows 10 words but he says them all most the time. He says peekaboo the most. He doesnt know what half the words mean though. I very very rarely swear. I accidently said something the other day as a reaction to something and he repeated it straight away. He hasnt said it since but i do worry lol because he practises new words alot. Maybe yours is just enjoying saying a word that hasnt been used in a while. I read its best to ignore them too. I dont know if negative reinforcement would work maybe with this word x
 

chris-md

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Feb 6, 2010
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Parker - male Eclectus

Aphrodite - red throated conure (RIP)
My ekkie does speak in cycles for sure. I’ve been getting “hey!” far more often than usual lately. And some days I couldn’t stop him from singing his favorite song.
 

DRB

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Jan 23, 2016
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Perjo - Female CAG hatch Nov 2015
I'm sensing they will use words or phrases in context when the context is present and in real time and they are in focus. Otherwise I think they just chatter and whatever comes out of their beaks is whatever is on the tip of their bird brain, which is not a slight to them b/c they are obviously wicked smart.

Perjo this morning was talking her ass off, saying the same 3-4 phrases for 10 minutes but there was no context to any of it.
 

GaleriaGila

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On Planet Rickeybird, some words/expressions are constant... our names, the word "NO" (imagine that)...
Other stuff is very cycle-y!
 
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bigfellasdad

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Enzo - adopted Female CAG circa 2004. A truly amazing young lady!
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On Planet Rickeybird, some words/expressions are constant... our names, the word "NO" (imagine that)...
Other stuff is very cycle-y!

The word no!, Enzo will use that when I am not paying enough attention, when im working at my PC for example she will do something naughty (bite the door frame) and immediately say no!. Again its my fault and a wake up call for me to include her in what ever im doing if at all possible.
 

clark_conure

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A crossover Quaker Scuti (F), A Sun conure named AC, A Cinnamon Green Cheek conure Kent, and 6 budgies, Scuti Jr. (f), yellow (m), clark Jr. (m), Dot (f), Zebra(f), Machine (m).
Clark knows his phrases down pat!

come on
come here
I love you
Kissy noise
whatcha doing
a couple others sometimes

He understands
go poop
seepy time (sleepy time)
no
NO No bite
good boy

and he's good at random grumbling.....

I'm working on "OK" but for some reason he hasn't tried it yet.

"Come on" is his usual "go to" phrase sometimes a come here, because it means he's away and coming to me or riding my shoulder going somewhere.


Oh he doesn't get or understand "mine".... like if I cook food for myself and say no it's MINE! yeah doesn't compute. He always has to eat the entire lasagna, pizza, or hamburger etc....I get nothing.
 
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bigfellasdad

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Oh he doesn't get or understand "mine".... like if I cook food for myself and say no it's MINE! yeah doesn't compute. He always has to eat the entire lasagna, pizza, or hamburger etc....I get nothing.

Hahaha, Enzo is the same. If I make a snack that we can both eat, ill cut her a corner and give it to her, she will look at my piece and drop hers, grab mine and fly off with it. She did this once with a poppadom and it was hilarious as it was bigger than her so she souldnt land with it as she couldnt put her 'landing gear' down so she had to drop it in flight :D

She wont say 'good girl' by the way, I think she understand 'girl' is herself, not entirely sure of that one though.
 

Cas27

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Blue and gold macaw,green wing Macaw,goffins cockatoo,Congo African grey
Ive noticed that Enzo doesnt speak many words all of the time, rather she appears to have 'this weeks favourite word', last week it was 'cootchy cootchy coo'. She seems to have a dozen or so most often used words, 'dad, come her, bye, nite nite, give us a kiss, no!' being her most common 'in-context' words. Since Saturday her favourite word appears to be f... off! Now I run a non swearing home and apart from the odd slip this is adhered to so i cant believe she has picked it up in my care. Even more strangely she seems to use this phrase in context, when I take away something that she shouldn't be eating like a stolen chocolate biscuit or when I put her in her cage when she doesn't want to..... she normally gives a single 'hooooo' when I ask her to do something against her will, now again its 'f.... off'!
When I first got Enzo the lady gave me a few pages of tips and information about Enzo and she had mentioned that she knows this swear word and to ignore her when she says it. That was 9 months ago.

So, is this normal do you find or do your birds have a vocabulary that is used all of the time or do your birds say things in cycles like Enzo?
Chico does the same thing.
 

mh434

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African Grey "Reno" - sadly, now gone from my life
Our CAG Reno has little cycles, too. Sometimes, he comes up with a new word (or, more commonly, a whole sentence), and repeats it endlessly. After a week or two, it disappears. Then, when you think it's forgotten, and when you least expect it, it comes back. It's like they have a "tickle trunk" of favorites. They drag 'em out, dust 'em off, and play with them until they tire of them, then back into the trunk they go. Until the next time.

Of course, "Mommy, I want a cookie!" NEVER goes out of fashion. He's realized that unless he adds "Please" or "Thank you!", he doesn't get a cookie, so it's now standard equipment in the "cookie rant".
 
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bigfellasdad

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Enzo - adopted Female CAG circa 2004. A truly amazing young lady!
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Our CAG Reno has little cycles, too. Sometimes, he comes up with a new word (or, more commonly, a whole sentence), and repeats it endlessly. After a week or two, it disappears. Then, when you think it's forgotten, and when you least expect it, it comes back. It's like they have a "tickle trunk" of favorites. They drag 'em out, dust 'em off, and play with them until they tire of them, then back into the trunk they go. Until the next time.

Of course, "Mommy, I want a cookie!" NEVER goes out of fashion. He's realized that unless he adds "Please" or "Thank you!", he doesn't get a cookie, so it's now standard equipment in the "cookie rant".

What a clever and well mannered fellow he is :)
 

chris-md

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Feb 6, 2010
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Maryland - USA
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Parker - male Eclectus

Aphrodite - red throated conure (RIP)
Speaking in cycles, Parker debuted a new phrase last night “wanna come?” And I couldn’t get him to stop saying it for hours. It’s basically the only thing he said all night.
 

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