Among the words our ferrets know are their names, "Nummy Crunchies",
"kissie-kissie", "more", "Wa-Wa", some body parts.  We keep to simple
sentence structure though after a while they understand one conditional
structure: first- then.  It is extremely useful when given some nasty
tasting meds though for the worst it doesn't work.  Mornie is turning
into someone who loved to warm cold areas with a person's breath and
occasionally in a person's mouth so it good to differentiate between
hands and feet, and they all know "belly" "head" and more.  "Bump-bump"
means two things.  It means nose and it means bumping with the nose.
 
Today Hubble did something that I hope was not a one time accident.  I
asked for bump-bump but he was very busy busy playing so from across
the room he stopped, looked at me and clearly said, "ump,ump".  Steve
and I about fell off our chairs!
 
In about twenty five years with ferrets we have had only one who tried
out her own word pronounciation and who tried to copy ours.  That was
Haleakala (Hale, pronounced "Holly" for short) who was a breeder retired
injured after a mounting male bit through one of her eyes.  After that
she usually would tolerate no ferret older than a kit.  Hale was very
much her Daddy's girl and she and Steve would cuddle for ages with him
saying things to her and then pausing while she would chatter at him in
reply.  After a while she developed a few consistent words of her own.
Now, remember that to Hale I had several uses.  I was appreciated as a
nurse and food giver, and adored for my belly button which belonged to
no one but her, regularly grooming it.  If Steve touched my navel she
would go Martha Stewart in terms of cleanliness and clean it to the point
where she would even do those little incisor groomings along the edge
(ouch).  For the most part, though, I was a rival for Steve so it will
not surprise you that her distinct name for me sounded somewhat like a
snort of disgust.  Steve, in the meantime was a pushover and Hale loved
milk so his name sounded very close to her word for milk "Mkkk" which she
would demand (no asking or begging on Hale's part) by name.
 
We hope that Hubble goes on from.  "ump ump", that this was not a one
time accident.  It would be just so cool to have a talking ferret again!
[Posted in FML issue 5082]