I still haven’t heard a peep out of you (or should I say “tweet” out of you) in spite of writing Letter 1 to you and then Letter 2 asking you to stop using the word “tweet” for what humans do on Twitter.
Besides taking this opportunity to remind you (to use corporate speak) this is still “an open issue” and to ask for a “status update”, I thought I might take a moment to clear the air about some of the other affronts by humans on birds that you could help stop.
While these tired clichés are true – “birds of a feather flock together” and “the early bird catches the worm”, it’s offensive to us to overhear humans refer to someone as being “bird brained”.
Also, why is it when your species experiences a sudden onset of rage, you call what you do next “flipping the bird”. It’s positively nasty.
Now I am a fan of Charles Lindbergh who said, “I realized that if I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes”.
But my friend Duck the Fifth reminded me that I should ask humans to stop using this phrase:
“If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck.”
Some of my less fortunate friends also asked me to include this pithy reminder from Jacques Deval that trees, not cages, are our favorite hang-out:
“God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages”
My claim to fame is this phrase (wise words indeed for hasty blabberers, or even posters on Twitter and Facebook): “A spoken word is not a sparrow. Once it flies out, you can't catch it.”
Back to Business...
The primary purpose of this letter is to ask you to stop calling the outpourings on your website “tweets”.
Have you given some thought to my proposal that you replace it with “treats”?
Respectfully yours,
Spizella Arborea, V
(Sparrow)
2 comments:
Minoo,your lovely posts about aves inspired me to paste these lines and I think they are something worth crowing about.
Here we go....
One swallow does not make a summer
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander
Wise as an owl
Eagle eye
Jaywalking
Naked as a jaybird
Stuffed like a Christmas goose
That’s just ducky
Watch like a hawk
Each bird loves to hear himself sing. (Italian)
A bird does not change its feathers because
the weather is bad. (Nigerian)
A bird may be known by its flight.
A chattering bird builds no nest.
Vulture is a patient bird.
Old birds are hard to pluck. (German)
No need to teach an eagle to fly. (Greek)
God gives every bird his worm, but he does not
throw it into the nest. (Swedish)
A bird is known by his feathers. (Yiddish)
A bird does not sing because it has an answer.
It sings because it has a song.
A/A/A/A
PS:Flap flap Swoosh!
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