Deba, I seriously doubt the original poster meant to cause any ill will. All of us understand that there are many who enjoy ferret-speak, but I don't think that everyone understands how or why it is so hard for many to read. A number of people here do not have English as a primary language, and I seriously doubt that any of us (even those who have studied any of their primary languages) could deal with baby speech in their tongues. In addition, there are those of us who cope with dyslexia. Mine is thankfully modest, but it never-the-less puts ferret-speak into the category of Babble for me. This is not by intention, or to be mean-spirited, but simply something unavoidable. Now, when a person is discussing something humorous I miss out but no one is hurt. On the other hand, what if the subject being discussed is one from which I can learn and thereby improve the quality of our ferrets' lives? What if I might be able to help, but not being able to sort through to the difficulty don't even know what is being discussed? What if the person who does not have spare time to sort through the garbled words is a vet or other professional who is short of time but great of heart? When the poster asked that medical pointers and questions not be in ferret-speak I identified with that individual. It may well be that she wished to learn from you or to help you, but could not get through the language difference well enough to do so. I know that I couldn't; later when I found out that you were discussing prolapse I slapped my forehead because it's something with which Steve and I have experience. Using ferret speak for serious subjects could turn out to be everyone's loss. In other situations there's no logical reason to not just let everyone comfortable with such an approach have fun that way. Sukie [Posted in FML issue 2444]