Cross Species Communications - Monday 10/02 - Birds

[spit-spot.livejournal.com]

Mary stands before the class as the students file in.

"Good afternoon children, I trust you have all had a chance to review the vocabulary lists you handwavy received and that you didn't give my TA much in the way of difficulty while I was gone."

She looked around the classroom with an expression that implied this better be the case.

"Today, as you know, we are discussing the language of birds." Mary said as she passed out a packet with information about language of birds.

"In Kabbalah, Renaissance magic, and alchemy, the language of the birds was considered a secret and perfect language, the key to perfect knowledge, sometimes also called the langue verte, or green language. The concept is also known from many folk tales (including Welsh, Russian, German, Estonian, Greek), where usually the protagonist is granted the gift of understanding the language of the birds either by some magical transformation, or as a reward for some good deed by the king of birds. The birds then inform or warn the hero about some danger or hidden treasure... That would be where we get the phrase, 'A little birdy told me.'"

"Today a little birdy will be answering your questions in the language of the Starling."

Mary moved aside and reveled a small bird to be perched on the podium. The starling cocks his head, taking in the class, and then opens his beak. The sound that results is strangely like a doorbell.

"Starlings have diverse and complex vocalizations, and have been known to imbed sounds from their surroundings into their own calls, including car alarms, and human speech patterns. The birds can recognize particular individuals by their calls." Mary explaned. "parrots are the best known for being able to mimic human speech, and studies with the African Grey Parrot have shown that some birds are able to associate human words with their meanings and form simple sentences."

The Starling made a noise that sounded something like a cel phone ringing.

Mary glanced at the bird.

"Good luck."

[[ooc: Please wait for OCD OPEN! Sorry about there not being a "you mysteriously get a packet" post. But I'm done moving! ... Now I just need to unpack. *facewall*]]

Comments

SIGN IN

[spit-spot.livejournal.com]

So that it will collapse.

Re: SIGN IN

[grenfelzer.livejournal.com]

Carmela Rodriguez

THE LECTURE

[spit-spot.livejournal.com]

You're taking notes right?

Don't make me sniff at you.

I'll do it.

Re: THE LECTURE

[ktarian-wildman.livejournal.com]

Naomi was taking heaps of notes, she was going slightly overboard with them but it was keeping her happy.

Re: THE LECTURE

[chasingsnitches.livejournal.com]

Cedric took notes and wondered if this sort of communication would allow conversation with owls.

Re: THE LECTURE

[chasingangela]

Angela took dozens and dozens of notes.

...oay, she didn't. But she looked like she was paying attention!

Re: THE LECTURE

[ranma-sao.livejournal.com]

Ranma is actually good at this class. So he tries his best to keep notes. Of course... said notes are impossible for anyone to read, even himself at times.

Re: THE LECTURE

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

Lana is taking copious notes. And smiling dreamily.

Re: THE LECTURE

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

Dawn was taking a lot of notes--her mind wasn't really on what she was doing, but if she wrote down everything Professor Poppins said, hopefully she'd be able to understand it later.

Hey, it was a theory.

Re: THE LECTURE

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

Kaoru looks a little worried as he takes his usual notes in Japanese. How was he supposed to make such a high pitched ringing noise?!

Re: THE LECTURE

[cat-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

Schrodinger had produced an audio recorder and was using that to take notes.

Possibly catnap for a second or two.

Re: THE LECTURE

[notajar]

Door's taking extensive notes, because she already speaks a bit of Starling, but nowhere near as well as Pigeon - and she's constantly thrown by how different they are.

Re: THE LECTURE

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly took notes and tried to read over the vocabulary sheet again.

Re: THE LECTURE

[stykera]

Stark took a few notes on his vocabulary sheet. He hadn't looked at the sheet before coming to class today and was hoping that things would still make sense.

Re: THE LECTURE

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

River didn't need to take notes, but she listened attentively to make sure she remembered everything.

Re: THE LECTURE

[willbedone.livejournal.com]

Willow, who wouldn't miss a class no matter what day it was, took notes.

Re: THE LECTURE

[dude-its-jude.livejournal.com]

Jude, having realised certain things about the nature of his own study habits and how this class could suddenly become very, very relevant, actually took incredibly good notes.

Re: THE LECTURE

[notawitch.livejournal.com]

Will tried her best to take notes during the lecture. It was hard to figure out exactly how to write down words in Starling, so she mixed squiggles with real letters, and hoped that she'd remember them later.

TALK TO STARLING

[spit-spot.livejournal.com]

The bird seems terribly amused by you all.

//Hi kids! How many of you can understand me?// Starling asks.

Re: TALK TO STARLING

[ktarian-wildman.livejournal.com]

Naomi went over to the Starling //Hi, how are you?//

Re: TALK TO STARLING

[chasingsnitches.livejournal.com]

Cedric had trouble with this language.

//Hello...you.//

Re: TALK TO STARLING

[chasingangela]

//I can,// Angela said, surprised that this seemed to be an easier language for her than the others. //How are you?//

Re: TALK TO STARLING

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

//Hello?? Lana said carefully. //It is good to meet you.//

AFTER CLASS

[spit-spot.livejournal.com]

Mary is here if you have questions.

Re: AFTER CLASS

[ranma-sao.livejournal.com]

"Excuse me... Ms. Poppins... How hard is it to speak crow...?"

OOC

[spit-spot.livejournal.com]

I love my dolphin icon.

Re: OOC

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

The dolphin icon is very cute.