Posted by A British woman is facing eviction from her apartment over the “persistent and serious noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour” of her African Grey parrot, Sparky. Apparently the bird is fond of saying “show me your knickers” and other raunchy phrases. (Continued under the fold…)
Hey baby, I’m a psychic parrot. And in the future I see your clothes on my floor.
She told The Press paper: “I feel like I’m being hounded out and that this is some sort of vendetta.”
“I don’t think Sparky is being a nuisance, but the officer told me they had received complaints about the noise.”
She added: “I don’t think anyone else would get evicted because of a parrot.”
If she doesn’t get Sparky to comply with the official complaint, both bird and owner will be out. They seem to be giving her awhile to do this (12 months), but anyone who has had a talking parrot knows that there isn’t really much you can do to get them to “un-learn” a word or phrase. In fact, your emotional reaction to the word or phrase (like getting upset or mad when they say something inappropriate, or laughing) only further reinforces repetition of the word. The best approach is to just ignore them or turn your back when they say the undesirable phrase, but really, it doesn’t always work.
I think a bird who said “show me your knickers” would be hilarious, not offensive! But either way, its unfair to punish the owner of this bird for something they bird is innocently saying. Sparky just likes to get a rise out of people, and obviously doesn’t really *want* to see the knickers of every little old lady that walks by.
February 2, 2007
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