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 #2 (permalink) Sun Nov 26, 2006 14:21 pm Parrots |
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Trust Tamara to come up with original, unusual and funny questions! :)
The parrot in your picture is pecking (biting with his beak) someone's finger -- parrots bite a lot and their bites can be very painful (I should know -- I used to have one).
Other things birds do with their beaks include:
Pick up (peck) food
Drink water
Feed their young
Peck (strike) holes in something
Peck something out (dig up, pull out)
Preen and scratch themselves
Attack their enemies
Catch fish and other prey
Make sounds
Caress their mates
When it was hot, my parrot used to open and close its beak, literally panting.
According to One Look, 'beak' can also be used as a verb: hit lightly with a picking motion. Is that what you really wanted to know? |
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Conchita
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Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 2826
Location: Madrid, Spain
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| #3 (permalink) Sun Nov 26, 2006 20:34 pm What is the parrot doing? :) |
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Hi, Conchita
Thanks a lot for your excellent list – it gives more than I could even expect!
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| The parrot in your picture is pecking (biting with his beak) someone's finger |
This is it.
My problem with bite is that dictionaries define it mainly as cutting into something
(Normally causing an unpleasant effect - pain, injury.)
Some dictionaries are more specific concerning to fish, insects, snakes - but not birds. For example:
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/bite?view=uk
I know that parrots can bite and it’s actually painful.
But in the picture the parrot doesn’t ‘cut into’, doesn’t produce any pain at all – it just accurately ‘holds’ itself.
They (this kind of parrots, I mean) normally do it by using tree branches or bars. Their beaks are specially designed :) for that.
That was one of the reasons why I asked for the right verbs.
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Tamara
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 25 May 2006
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Location: UK
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| #4 (permalink) Sun Nov 26, 2006 21:00 pm Biting |
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| I know what you mean, Tamara -- I normally associate biting with teeth. If the parrot on the picture isn't biting, then perhaps you could say he's just grabbing the finger or pinching it (?) |
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Conchita
Language Coach
Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 2826
Location: Madrid, Spain
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| #5 (permalink) Sun Nov 26, 2006 21:19 pm What is the parrot doing? :) |
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Hi Tamara
Yes, yours is truly an original question. :D
Birds do peck with their beaks, but I definitely wouldn't call the activity taking place in your picture pecking. Despite the fact that the parrot has no teeth, I do think I'd go so far as to call that biting. You could soften or change it somewhat with an adverb (or adjective -- depending on usage): gently biting or playfully biting. :lol:
My cats "bite" me all the time :shock::lol: but there is never any broken skin or blood. I think of what my cats do as "affectionate, playful biting" or "nipping".
Amy
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Yankee
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Location: USA
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| #6 (permalink) Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:43 am What is the parrot doing? :) |
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Thanks! :)
Amy, in Russian it would be different words (but coming from one root) - when you actually bite something (or someone :)) and when you 'bite a little' (dearly, fondly, gently,... :))
Both imply having teeth. At least two - at the opposite jaws :) )
OK. Birds must have equal rights! :)
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Tamara
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Location: UK
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