The Way of the Bird

Halfway through 2012!
   Wedding, done.
      Euro, won.
         Kreol lecons, ...non.


(I've been told) Creole is not the most difficult language to speak but it is difficult to write. It is after all a language that is meant to be spoken rather than written. That sure makes it difficult to learn when one is 3000 nautical miles away!

So far on my journey I've seen several words written 3 different ways. Take 'bird'.


The French: oiseau
Creole: zoizo, zwazo, zozo


If this was an audio file, you'd think I said the same word 3 times. And I did.


It's alright that the spelling is inconsistent, we just Parrot and imitate the French pronunciation of the original word.


Sometimes though, it doesn't work. I'll get to that as soon as Jaguar finishes playing with banana leaves.


(: biz

Googling Birds

Since I moved back here I've been on the hunt for what I call the Woot-Woot bird, a bird that goes wooooot! wooooot! every morning and again before sunset.


Is it an owl? I dunno. I've never seen it.

Over the years I've looked high and lowIn the trees, the sky, under rooftops nearbyI've asked around, even imitated its soundBut this woot-woot bird, no one seems to know

Which made Googling for it impossible.


How do you google for something with no visual cues, only an attempt at onomatopoeia. There ought to be an audio input option, hooked up to an audio recognition software that would return similar audio results.


In the meantime, here's the 'proper' way to google:

 

Note how audio is not one of the search inputs. Fortunately when it comes to Zoizo, I only know what he looks like and not how he sounds.

Using the keywords yellow bird and decurved beak, I image-searched for something that would look a little like this:

Playing the matching game of apple to apples, Zoizo is an olive-backed yellow sunbird!


He could be buddies with the yellow sunbears.


(: Biz