{"id":38424,"date":"2021-03-26T15:00:58","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T06:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/?p=38424"},"modified":"2021-03-16T17:17:55","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T08:17:55","slug":"if-animals-could-talk-what-would-they-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/essays\/animals\/","title":{"rendered":"If animals could talk, what would they say?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I would love to live in a world where, as many movies portray, animals could talk. They can play such an important role in our lives, especially our pets. However, sadly, I am a bit too realistic and firmly believe that animals are <u>personified<\/u> more than they ought to be. Their behavior and what seem to be facial expressions are more about instinct than personality or deeper emotion. <\/p>\n<p>I actually don\u2019t think they really know as many words as we think they do. I would say they are much better at understanding the tone of our voices. I have tried this with many pets I have had in the past. If I talk to them in a praising tone but use insulting words they still approach me wagging their tails or purring at me and wanting to be <u>petted<\/u>. So if animals could talk I think it would only be one word at a time and probably not in a full sentence.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few animated movies where I think the instincts of animals are given a voice that would be more similar to the truth of what they are feeling. In \u201cFinding Nemo\u201d, for example, a flock of seagulls <u>zero in<\/u> on their potential dinner of fish all repeating the same word, \u201cMine!\u201d over and over again. In another movie called \u201cOver the Hedge\u201d a <u>ferocious<\/u> looking rottweiler looks at some forest creatures with a look of hunger but actually starts shouting, \u201cPlay! Play! Play!\u201d Both examples are simple but I think that would be something animals would say. If animals could talk I don\u2019t think they would say anything but for a few words of what their goal was or what they were focused on. <\/p>\n<p>My family in Canada has a really big dog. She is a St. Bernard, St. Bernese mountain dog cross. She is 4 years old, loves to play, and when she puts her front paws on my shoulders she is at least as tall as I am. Even though she is quite large she is quite a nervous dog and often <u>shies away from<\/u> newcomers by hiding behind family members or sneaking under the front deck of the house. When she is trying to hide behind me I imagine that she would simply be saying, \u201cHide!\u201d or \u201cStranger!\u201d Some dogs will find a stick to play with but because of her size she likes the challenge of dragging an actually tree branch around. I could imagine that when she is prancing around with a giant tree branch clenched between her teeth that she would think or say, \u201cMine!\u201d or \u201cStrong!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I have heard of pet psychologists or even devices that claim to be able to interpret what animals are thinking. There might be some truth to them but I think it\u2019s the owners that need psychologists more than the pets themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of whether or not animals can talk, I think it is often pretty clear what they want and what they are thinking. I sometimes wish people would be easier to read and understand.<\/p>\n<p>Laura<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><\/br><br \/>\n<b>Vocabulary<\/b><\/p>\n<p>personify (v) \u2013 to give a personal nature or characteristic to something that isn\u2019t human<br \/>\npet (v) \u2013 to stroke or pat an animal affectionately<br \/>\nzero in (phr. v) \u2013 to focus one\u2019s attention<br \/>\nferocious (adj.) \u2013 savage, violent, cruel or dangerous<br \/>\nshy away from (phr. v) \u2013 to avoid doing or become involved in something due to being nervous or having a lack of confidence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I would love to live in a world where, as many movies portray, animals could talk. They can play such an important role \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":38427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneup.jp\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}