Thread

The first new cat species discovered in 100 years

379 points · 148 comments · ohjeez

hmokiguess · 1789761278 · focus · HN ↗
Awwwww pspspspsps kitty kitty ^_^
1. YeGoblynQueenne · 1789766344 · focus · HN ↗
  Wait, "pspspsps"? Where are you from? I thought only Greeks do "pspspsps".
  1. reaperducer · 1789767032 · focus · HN ↗
    My German grandmother did it, too.
  2. rafaelvasco · 1789767383 · focus · HN ↗
    No, it's somewhat common here in Brazil too.
  3. saghm · 1789767581 · focus · HN ↗
    I've heard that my whole life in the US. I think my dad taught it to me when I was really young, because he loves cats and our neighbors across the street had some outdoor cats.
    Loughla · 1789778600 · focus · HN ↗
    Growing up in the Midwest it was always kitty kitty kitty kitty KITTY with the last one said at the top of your lungs.
    No idea why it worked. It's terrifying.
    saghm · 1789781346 · focus · HN ↗
    Probably worked because the cats grew up with it too!
  4. nottorp · 1789768129 · focus · HN ↗
    And Romanians.
  5. Avicebron · 1789768554 · focus · HN ↗
    Can confirm that non-greek Americans do this as well.
  6. riffraff · 1789770147 · focus · HN ↗
    We do it in Italy too, afair (I'm a bit in doubt if we also do "tch tch tch")
  7. Modified3019 · 1789770932 · focus · HN ↗
    It’s very common in the USA.
    kulahan · 1789781312 · focus · HN ↗
    I think it has become common, but I never heard it until a few years ago. Now it's seemingly everywhere. When I was a kid, it was just "Here kitty kitty" or making a clicking noise with your tongue or something.
    rootusrootus · 1789785108 · focus · HN ↗
    > making a clicking noise with your tongue or something
    I still do that today, and it works better than pspspspsps. When I was young, if my cat was outside on the porch I could click my tongue and he'd come running from a half block away. What a good kitty he was.
  8. pezezin · 1789774261 · focus · HN ↗
    We also do it in Spain, I think it is the international cat calling code.
  9. Induane · 1789774985 · focus · HN ↗
    We do it in America
  10. astura · 1789775905 · focus · HN ↗
    pspspsps is biological , it's common noise to get a cats attention (in many places) because it stimulates their prey drive.
    jjtheblunt · 1789834238 · focus · HN ↗
    maybe the phoneme sequence of plosive -> sibilant is easy to discern from background noise?
    <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plosive" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plosive
    <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibilant" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibilant
  11. WalterBright · 1789776370 · focus · HN ↗
    I'm from America, and we do spspspsp.
  12. msephton · 1789785909 · focus · HN ↗
    We do it on the United Kingdom
    YeGoblynQueenne · 1789803427 · focus · HN ↗
    Where in the UK? I've lived in the UK, in the Southeast, for 21 years and I never heard anyone say "pspsps".
    I mean I don't doubt you, I just thought Brits just say "here kitty kitty" because that's what I usually see in movies and TV shows and so on.
    It's funny what you miss when you're not embedded in the culture of a place since birth...
    nephihaha · 1789806696 · focus · HN ↗
    It's common. But I tend to find people in the south east of England barely talk to one another. :)
    YeGoblynQueenne · 1789984367 · focus · HN ↗
    Oh yeah, that. But I'm a bloody foreigner so I get to speak to other bloody foreigners :)
    msephton · 1789933891 · focus · HN ↗
    I'm from Liverpool (70s/80s/90s), and of course I've heard "here kitty" but "pspsps" equally as common during my time in London (90s/00s), Cornwall(10s/20s), etc.
    I always thought "pspsps" was a shortened form of "here pussy, pussy, pussy".
  13. bigiain · 1789786377 · focus · HN ↗
    Australia also uses pspspsps - at least my part of it and my family and friends.
    (and for some Australians some of the time, "ps ps fuckin ps, ya cunting cat!" of course. ;- ) )
    YeGoblynQueenne · 1789803212 · focus · HN ↗
    "Cunting"! Not just "cunt" but "cunting"! I learned so much from this thread! :D
  14. ChoGGi · 1789788445 · focus · HN ↗
    That's a worldwide thing, as well as other stupid human noises ;)
    Tch tch tch
  15. MadrasTh0rn · 1789792050 · focus · HN ↗
    All of the US and some of Canada does pspspsps
    Tiktaalik · 1789795135 · focus · HN ↗
    wait where in Canada do they don't do pspspsps?
    (is there a francophone different one?)
    MadrasTh0rn · 1789824873 · focus · HN ↗
    I'm just talking from my experience but francophone areas do it differently.
    They do ttttt (tongue at top of mouth clicking), kissing noise (as a non frank lol), or 'minou minou minou' (mimicking meow) to summon cats
  16. YeGoblynQueenne · 1789803311 · focus · HN ↗
    Well it seems everyone uses that! Thanks guys, I had no idea and this is so interesting to know. Now I wonder if someone has made some kind of study about it. I'll go looking.
2. shagie · 1789781387 · focus · HN ↗
  A fun book is Bad Magic by Stephan Zielinski. Kind of an awkward one to find since it's a common title from a while back (2004) at the very start of urban fantasy... and the author didn't appear to have written anything else.
  At one point in the book, several of the characters are in South America looking for a jaguar. They ask the synesthetic mage of their group (each character has a different magical background)...
  “Got anything to call a jaguar?” Rider purses his lips. “Well … there is one incantation. But I’m not sure it’ll work. Even the most skilled thaumaturges can’t pull it off more than a quarter of the time.” Sturgeon shrugs. “May as well try it, Al.” Rider nods. “Okay. Be quiet, everybody.” He rolls his head on his neck, holds up his arms. Takes several deep breaths. Opens his mouth. Intones, “Here, kitty kitty kitty … here, kitty…” Chloe throws a clot of mud in his face as Rider dissolves into whoops of laughter. Everybody shakes their heads in disgust and they troop off into the green.

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