The Cute Animal Pics/Videos Thread

[Carol the Dabbler]

8 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

Isn't Icelandic similar in that it's unlike anything else? 

Nope, it's a Scandinavian language.

[Pseudonym]

Hm, I was watching a documentary a while ago about an autistic savant (Daniel Tammet) who was a polyglot, and the language he picked that he had to learn in a week as a challenge was Icelandic because it was supposed to be particularly difficult. Maybe he just didn't know any of the languages it was related to, or there was some other reason... I don't know, languages are not really my interest or my forte. 

Ah, the documentary is on YouTube, might give it a rewatch later. I remember it was pretty interesting, you language folks might like it. Here's the link, though since it's not about animals feel free to move it elsewhere if need be. 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

According to the websites I read, Icelandic is basically a dialect of Old Norse.  The roots are the same as the modern Scandinavian languages, but Icelandic is very conservative, having preserved all the picky little declensions and conjugations that most modern languages have greatly simplified or even discarded.  A Swede trying to converse with an Icelander would be far more difficult than us trying to talk with Chaucer.

But learning *any* language in only a week -- he could give lessons to Mycroft!

[Pseudonym]

Aw, his lil sad face. 

[Pseudonym]

If I got this on my cat I don't think I'd stop laughing for days. 

[Pseudonym]

 

 

[Arcadia]

What an intense stare! I feel ... compelled ... to ... open .......

[J.P.]

The paper looks photoshopped, but it's still funny

[Carol the Dabbler]

I saw a cat looking out of an apartment-house door like that once in Toronto.  There was also a sign next to the door, but this one said "No Pets Allowed."

Obviously cats can't read.

[Pseudonym]

BC on a day off. 

[Pseudonym]

[Carol the Dabbler]

A very small species of penguin?  Or....?

[Caya]

Looks like a weirdly-coloured lovebird to me.

[J.P.]

8 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

Irish Parrot.

[Arcadia]

You can tell, because it's dancing an Irish jig.

 

[Pseudonym]

I thought it was a lovebird. I didn't realise they were known for their Irish jigs though.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Still looks like a tiny penguin to me (maybe because my phone screen is so small).  Nice jig, though.

At first I thought maybe it was a paste-up, but upon closer examination, I'd say it's real.

[Caya]

Fwiw, it's a black-headed caique.

 

 

[J.P.]

And it definitely watched too much Riverdance

 

[Pseudonym]

I went to see The Lord of the Dance (the sequel? Follow up?) a few years ago when it was touring. I like dance, but god it was boring. Saying that the few times I've seen a ballet that's bored the life out of me too. Maybe I only like watching dancing if it's interspersed with other things. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

That strikes me as Irish flamenco -- not really my cup of tea.  I have a fairly low threshold for ballet as well.  Not that I've watched all that much dance of any kind, but probably my favorite kind is folk dancing, from just about anywhere, done as folk dancing, not fancied up.  Ballroom dancing is okay too.  Just nothing too self-consciously "arty" -- which is how that clip strikes me (especially the "self conscious" part).  Dancing should be fun.

[Hikari]

On ‎4‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 5:41 PM, Caya said:

Looks like a weirdly-coloured lovebird to me.

Weirdly, I feel like this depicts Sherlock & Jim Moriarty (Meowiarty) relaxing at home on top of Mycroft.  The white dog is massive.  Maybe he's Gandalf and the other two are . . Samwise Gamgee and Gimli.

Obviously the cat would read this differently and say he is in charge and bawling orders to his canine minions.  They don't look in a hurry to comply.

[Pseudonym]

I think that *is* Irish folk dancing. Morris dancing (being English folk dancing) makes me cringe a bit. Have you seen those clips of Georgian folk dancers? Like dancing pirates, Sherlock would love it. Those swords are clashing to the point sparks start flying about half way through (about the 3.10 mark). 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

What is that alphabet?  I don't recall ever seeing it before.

I like that better than the other clip, and might like an actual performance even better, not sure.  Neither one really grabs me, though.  I guess there's folk dancing and then there's folk dancing.  The kind I like is *happy* folk dancing.

[Van Buren Supernova]

On 3/31/2018 at 12:15 AM, J.P. said:

The paper looks photoshopped, but it's still funny

As opposed to.... the cat really wrote it?

 

It's been more than a decade since I read sorcerer's stone, but pretty sure this horrendous creature is in it.