Wayne Rothe wrote:
>Our Farrah doesn't do it often, but she's hilarious when she runs
>backwards, moving her body back and forth and makes that noise.  Is
>that called dooking and where does the term come from?
 
The action is called the Ferret Foxtrot, the Weasel Wardance, or the Dance
of Joy.  The noise is called dooking, clucking or chuckling.  The word
"dook" is onomatopoeic -- that is, like "bang" or "crash," it's supposed to
sound like the noise it describes.
--
- Pam Greene
Ferret Central <http://www.optics.rochester.edu:8080/users/pgreene/>
 
[Moderator's note: A favorite term of mine to describe the noise was "to
chortel".  The term used to be used lots on the FML but seems to have been
replaced by dook these days.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 1415]