Ducks quack with regional accents

by Suw on June 4, 2004

I knew that French cows can't understand English*, but a new study shows that English ducks quack with regional accents:

“Cockney” ducks from London make a rougher sound, not unlike their human counterparts, so their fellow quackers can hear them above the city's hubbub. But their country cousins communicate with a softer, more relaxed sound, the team from Middlesex University found.
…The study was designed to look at how language developed and Dr De Rijke now hopes to study the quacking sounds of Irish, Geordie and scouse ducks.

But what about Welsh ducks?
*Honest, it's true. A farmer bought a herd of French dairy cows, but they couldn't understand English so when he tried to get them into the milking shed, they ignored him. He had to hire a French cowherd to teach them English. I can't find a link for it right now, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Anonymous June 4, 2004 at 6:10 pm

Have you seen the Duck Museum yet?

Anonymous June 4, 2004 at 7:45 pm

Ok, this is too much!
From the site:
“Discover the different sounds that ducks, horses, pigs, cows, frogs and cockerels make in different languages by browsing our comprehensive table of MP3 sound files.”

Anonymous June 4, 2004 at 10:56 pm

And I thought *I* had too much time on my hands.

Anonymous June 5, 2004 at 1:04 pm

🙂

Anonymous June 5, 2004 at 4:39 pm

It sounds like the typical sort of thing that Middlesex University would research. Gawd knows their Nursing Diploma is full of pointless information.

Anonymous March 10, 2005 at 11:30 pm

what does this have to do with vodka??? Honestly!

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