Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 21, 1995 TAG: 9509210007
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL ACHENBACH
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``Nuh-uh,'' you say?
OK, we'll recap: These interjections, or ``grunts,'' have a clear meaning even though there is no known etymology. They are mystery noises, universally understood, yet not exactly what you would call linguistically elegant.
We have now spoken to Steven Pinker, professor of cognitive science at MIT and author of ``The Language Instinct,'' who makes an interesting observation: The grunts may be a form of what is called ``motherese.''
``My guess is that they are related to the kind of murmurings that parents make to their children,'' he says.
His evidence: ``Uh-uh'' begins with a staccato noise, a glottal stop in the back of the throat. Sounds and words of negation -``no,'' for example - have that staccato quality. ``Uh-huh'' is a more drawn- out sound, more ``legato'' if you will. Think about it: The ``uh'' is not pronounced the same in ``uh-uh'' as it is in ``uh-huh.'' And as we noted before, ``uh-uh'' has a falling melody and ``uh-huh'' a rising one.
One other interesting factoid. Have you ever wondered why shaking your head from side to side means ``no'' and nodding it vertically means ``yes''? Pinker says the side-to-side shaking merely echoes what a baby does when it doesn't want to cooperate. Try to get a spoonful of mushed carrots into the mouth of a recalcitrant child. The baby turns away instinctively. So we grow up and shake our heads ``no.''
As for ``yes,'' that's just the opposite of no. Sounds like a song title.
The Mailbag:
David K. of Greensboro, N.C., asks, ``Why are the days of the week on most calendars always listed Sunday through Saturday rather than Monday through Sunday? Isn't Sunday the seventh day of the week?''
Dear David: The annoying thing about the calendar is that it completely ignores the very thing around which modern society is organized: the weekend. The calendar pretends there's no such thing!
In the ancient Jewish calendar, the week was divided into seven days, the first six of which initially were simply numbered. Sunday was 1. Monday was 2. After the sixth day came the sabbath. Of course it didn't have a number. It wasn't ``the seventh day.'' The sabbath is the sabbath, beyond numbers, end of discussion.
The Romans were the ones who started naming days after the heavenly bodies that rule the earth. The sun being the most heavenly body of all, naturally it led off the week. Saturn, that dim faraway gasbag, got the last position.
Some orthodox Jews still use numbers but for the most part the Jewish and Roman calendars were merged to reflect a Sunday-through-Saturday week. By the time the Christian faith gained influence the calendar was pretty well set.
Personally we are going to switch back to numbers. You know: Thank God it's 6.
Belinda L. of Bay Village, Ohio, writes, ``The other day at the veterinary clinic where I work, the question came up as to whether any male mammals besides canines lift their leg to urinate. Could you find the answer?''
Dear Belinda: What few people realize is that when a dog lifts its leg it is not only urinating but also signaling that you are guilty of ``clipping.''
Football season joke, never mind. We spoke to Roger Caras, president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and author of more than 70 books, and he says he believes only the canines lift their leg. The reason they do it is to mark their territory - it has nothing to do with urination, per se. It just so happens that the dog's pheromones are secreted into his urine.
In a deer, the pheromones are secreted in seven areas of the skin, says Caras. So a deer rubs against things to signal its territory. Fruit bats have scent glands in their tiny little fingers. And a cat has its scent-producing glands in the corners of its mouth. That's why it lovingly rubs up against your ankle in the morning - the cat is marking you as personal property.
The question is, why does a dog lift its leg at all. The answer is, to shoot higher.
The idea is, in part, to get the urine to a more dramatic location where it won't just sink into the ground or get washed away by rain. The higher location also puts the urine closer to another dog's nose. And the marking of vertical objects (trees, fire hydrants) is an instinct that saves the dog a lot of time - rather than nose around an entire field, it can just go to the nearest tree to see if any dogs have been around.
That said, Caras says he knows male dogs that don't lift their legs at all. The gene got lost in the wash of domestication.
``Lots of male dogs pee just by spreading their hind legs and spraying just ahead,'' Caras says. ``Domestication confuses things for them. Very often you get a female trying to mount a male.''
We know what you're thinking.
Confusion ... or liberation?
- Washington Post Writers Group
by CNB