Jose Carillo's English Forum

General Category => Lounge => Topic started by: Joe Carillo on November 09, 2009, 01:26:46 PM

Title: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: Joe Carillo on November 09, 2009, 01:26:46 PM: This image of a cat surrounded by iridescent flowers was sent to me by a friend. My wife loved it so much that she made it a wallpaper for her mobile phone. What do you think of it?

(http://i.imagehost.org/0055/Colorful_Cat.gif) (http://i.imagehost.org/view/0055/Colorful_Cat)
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: maxsims on November 09, 2009, 02:12:35 PM: I don't think that it's a Filipino cat!
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: shaoley on November 09, 2009, 03:14:36 PM: I say thumbs up!!! 8)
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: madgirl09 on November 09, 2009, 03:17:09 PM: i think, all cats seeing a mouse would look like that. cats usually look timid and sleepy, regardless of "nationality". ;D
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: maxsims on November 09, 2009, 06:07:21 PM: And the question mark is missing!
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: Sky on November 09, 2009, 06:58:52 PM: I think it's a male cat searching for its love. ;D :D
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: Joe Carillo on November 09, 2009, 07:54:25 PM: Quote from: maxsims on November 09, 2009, 06:07:21 PM
And the question mark is missing!

That's very perceptive of you, Max, but I expected greater grammar savvy from you! Yes, it's true that the obligatory question mark is missing from "How are you," but the traditional exclamation mark is also missing from "Hi." That greeting should be grammatically reconstructed as follows:

"Hi! How are you?"

Are we now all agreed that the writer of that greeting couldn't be a native English speaker? In such cases, what nationalities are the usual suspects? Who can do such a fetching artwork without knowing basic English grammar? Just food for thought. Please don't post your hunches so they can't accuse this Forum of xenophobia. ;D
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: maxsims on November 09, 2009, 08:30:54 PM: No!
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: Sky on November 09, 2009, 09:13:26 PM: Yes, a lot of people are xenophobic! ;D. You're an awesome Aussie, Max Sims! ;D
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: Joe Carillo on November 09, 2009, 11:56:51 PM: Just for the record, my daughter Nikki (the eldest among three children) had a cat that looked somewhat like that; I suppose that would have qualified that cat to be Filipino. ::) Anyway, a family friend had given that cat to my daughter when she was four or five. She named it Sebastian after one of the catty characters--a male lobster, if my memory serves me well--in the Disney movie The Little Mermaid. Sebastian grew up to be a handsome tomcat, but one day we noticed that his tummy had gotten bigger. We thought he had a stomach ailment or something so we thought of bringing him to a vet. A few weeks later he gave birth to four healthy kittens. Sebastian, it turned out, was female after all! Cest la vie!
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: maxsims on November 10, 2009, 03:21:47 AM: ...You're an awesome Aussie, Max Sims! Grin...

This is true! :)

But, just for the record, I was replying "no" to Joe's question "Are we all agreed...etc". I know plenty of native English speakers who can whip up computer-generated artwork in a flash but forget about exclamation marks and the like.
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: Sky on November 10, 2009, 07:56:32 AM: Sir, Joe! Can we use the pronouns "he," "she," "him," and "her" to animals instead of "it"? We were taught to just use the pronoun "it" to refer to animals before. ???
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: Joe Carillo on November 10, 2009, 05:00:03 PM: The neuter pronoun “it” is, of course, formally used when the antecedent noun is an animal. This should be the case in formal writing and in most business communication (with veterinary jargon as a notable exception). However, for pets of known gender and for which the owner has strong feelings of affection, particularly cats and dogs, English allows for flexibility in using the pronouns “he” and "him or “she” and "her" when referring to one of them. This usage is highly idiosyncratic, though, occurring mostly in first-person narratives where the pet owner talks of a pet named with a proper noun, such as the cat “Sebastian” in the case at hand.
Title: News feed: Cats "exploit" humans by purring
Post by: Joe Carillo on November 23, 2009, 11:36:05 PM: Forum member Hill Roberts in Spain sent me a news feed yesterday about a BBC news report by science reporter Victoria Hill that says cats "exploit" humans by purring.

Read "Cats 'exploit' humans by purring" in BBC News now! (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8147566.stm)
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: madgirl09 on November 26, 2009, 10:42:32 PM: Hill, what an interesting article that is! (Where are you? Been absent for two days?) Animals have their own way of communicating to humans. Not only cats, but also all other domesticated animals have this characteristic.

For some time, I learned how to react to the piglets my mother was raising when we were young. And, (as what Maxsims has mentioned), we checked on them "with clips in their ears". (The mother swine had the most number of different whinings and tune types. It was the noisiest, most incontrollable domesticated beast I have ever encountered. Its weapon is her siren-like, trumpet-like sound that you'd always regret raising pigs in your backyard (those were the days...).

My grandfather as well, learned how to interpret the sounds his carabao was making at different hours of the day, and his carabao had learned how to cope with the various moods my grandfather had. Sad, carabaos are the kindest of the animals I have ever seen, that no matter what words (or curses) my grand dad called the plump guy, it was always timid.

It's just the chickens I found so difficult to understand, but when food was around, they had the faintest cacklings. Mother hens also had the largest variation of pitches and beats, staccato or calm sounds, ;) ;) ;). They dont say anything though, when you slip your hand into their nest, and you grab a very warm egg for breakfast ;D. They just give you a souvenir red peck :o :o ouch!

Dogs, I think, are closest to humans. They make sounds at the same time do some actions suggesting their thoughts and moods. Hmmmn. I think I am related to Dr. Doolittle. ::) I'll tell you more... about monkeys and iguanas later...

tata!
madgirldoolittle :P
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: hill roberts on November 29, 2009, 05:05:43 AM: Hi, Madgir,
I'm so glad you missed me. I did to....nice to know you enjoyed
the cat article! Anyway, I hope our Prof wouldn't mind if I gave
you my site@ http://iftruthbetold.posterous.com which I recently
joined three weeks ago. I've posted a few and today, the latest is:
"British Woman Has 300 Orgasms a Day"- ;D ::) ::)--a Famous British Tabloid.
Hoax or not? Find out there.
Also, I'm serious about us Forum Members coining or inventing new
words. Imagine, a new coined word a day, that's 365 words in a year.
So, amiga mia, I know you're a busy girl, but do join please. :-* :)
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: hill roberts on November 29, 2009, 05:32:43 AM: Madgirl,

I'd love to hear more about the carabao "moods" and "behaviour".
Thanks! ;D :-*
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: madgirl09 on November 29, 2009, 08:19:29 AM: Hahaha....one "carabao mood" was when we four cousins (6 to 8 yrs old.) were playing "horsey horsey" on the carabao's back. It reckoned, maybe, it was different from what horse we knew (in Manila where we grew up, there were no carabaos but horses on calesas). The beast kept walking wishing one would at least decide (to pester ) the goats instead. The carabao's back was like a giant cinema seat, so we enjoyed making fun on it. I was at the far end near the tail, facing its back. Then I noticed a "very soft mound" where some fermented-looking black grass was oozing from. I was the most curious...so guess what? When I touched that thing, in an impulse, it shook me out (yanked me out) of its back and I fell on the ground, nose first. :-\ . So, I lost my Spanish-definitive feature :'( ;D ;D ;D

Carabaos would show its temper through its eyes, as it can't really move quick since its skin is so tight. It would just look like this ::). It would think of hitting you with its horn sometimes, but decide not to (because it is so kind). Grandpa would shout at him all other curses I don't hear at home :-[, especially when the beast would go the other way, not to the old man's direction. Lots more of carabao stories...but let me remember them one by one.

Oh, Hill, I have been wishing to write my stories about childhood and province life. I think I'd start writing at Christmas vacation. Bits and pieces like these would eventually become good readings for my growing children. Philippine life is filled with treasured expriences. Older people just have to chronicle their past for the next generations :).
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: madgirl09 on November 29, 2009, 08:39:06 AM: Gosh, Hill, don't post that news here :o. The "other gender" might be shocked ( and demoralized) ::). Let's talk about it in your weblog. But...how did that woman count? ::) You know, I love this Dr. House TV series with its new medical revelations; it's where I found out that they could monitor a patient as "having it" through some special machines or gadgets, even if the patient is unconscious or asleep. To some people "stronger than others", it's done in a speed of thought. Would that mean it could be had anywhere, anytime, as you like it? Ask the experts ;) . (dang!) off topic...delete
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: hill roberts on November 30, 2009, 01:27:37 AM: hahahahaha, Madgirl! This is the 21st century---the topic and headline came really from the British tabloid...I apologise to all those who turned red...Oops. I live in Europe and people here don't bat an eyelash let alone eyelid.
Joe, my deepest apologies! That was a slip up that would never happen again. Sorry, Forum Members. I really really made a mistake. Forgive me, please? :o 8) ::) Madgirl, enjoyed your Carabao Mood Story...it is not everyday that I hear such rare provincial stories. :-*
Title: Re: Cat surrounded by iridescent flowers
Post by: vinzvonvan on December 01, 2009, 08:15:12 PM: I do agree that the greeting lacks proper exclamation and question marks to give its deeper meaning. But then I guess that an observer of this picture would immediately be captured by the liveliness of the flowers and cat's eyes.