“Well, we’ve finished the experiment. The duck hasn’t learnt how to speak like a human; but the researchers all now quack like ducks.”
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DUCK: You bloody fool!
RESEARCHER: Amazing, I’ve taught a duck to mimic human language.
DUCK: Mimic human language?! Fuck off with that Chomsky shit.
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I’ve long been in the habit of trying to talk to animals via mimicry. I’m surprisingly* good with cats, and learned to do the Lost Cat Locator Beacon long before I ever had a cat. Some cats, Yahweh most definitely included, will go into a call-and-response mode after a little while in a car carrier, especially if they’re the only cat in the car. Try it sometime, you might be surprised how easy it is to start getting them to mimic you in overall tone.
Chickens will sometimes do a similar thing, but they have a much shorter attention span than a captive cat. They can definitely be trained to respond to basic words/sounds, though. I know this because calling out ‘poultry’ or ‘hey, ducks’ gets me the undivided attention of the correct species for as long as it takes to throw a dollar’s worth of scratch and/or dried mealworms at them.
* I’m just absolutely terrible at voices, accents, that sort of thing.
When people express an interest in ducks, because they are so cute, I warn them that ‘water fowl’ is not an adjective, it is their entire job description. They are always so perfectly clean and dry, yet they are each their own little Superfund site in some Dorian Gray sort of way.
Also, only half as smart as chickens. On a good day.
Username checks out.
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Obi Wan Quacknobi, “He is more man than duck now; twisted and evil… and that’s saying something 'cus ducks are pretty quacked-up to begin with.”
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puns don’t lead to the dark side. they are the dark side 
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It’s not imitating a human. It is imitating Mrs. de Passe’s parrot from Bell, Book and Candle. Birds mimicking other birds is pretty common.
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That didn’t pass! I mean, I like the idea of musk ducks and fancy chickens memorizing '80s and '90s Jeremy Irons work as much as anyone, but hit the voicing.
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And now… the sounds of the chainsaws from the foresters nearby.
Amazing.
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You gotta wonder how insecure this little bugger must be, what with the vocal skills AND those tail feathers!!
Next phrase is “You’re despicable!”
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