Talk to the Animals

No polyglot zoophilist’s library is complete without Harrap’s Rat-English Dictionary:

Over 5,000 references, 80,000 translations and hundreds of new expressions! Contains usage notes to avoid being bitten, and slang signals on a wide variety of subjects. Contains examples to show how sounds are used.

Here are a few samples from the E section:

e [i:] v. left; e ip, left a bit!
e e [i:i] v. right; e e ip, right a bit!
ee [ii:] a. just right, ee ewp, ooh, yeah, that’s just right.
ee eee [‘i:ii] v. tr. to stop grooming; ee eee ip!, stop nibbling my head now.
eee [iii] v. to stop; eee! stop that!
eee e [iii:’i] v. to quit; eee e! quit it!
eee ee [‘ii:i] v. tr. to want; eee ee awp, I want that pea.
eee ee ee [iii:’ii:i] v. to go away; eee ee ee eep! get out of the hammock now, it’s my turn.
eee eeee [ii:’iii] v. to leave; eek eee eeee, let’s leave the vet’s and never come back, okay?
eee eee ee [iii:’iii:ii] v. tr. to explore; eee eee ee e ee eek, Let me out so I can explore behind the filing cabinet!
eeee [iiii] v. tr. to give; eeee! gimme! eeee awp! gimme that pea!
eeee ee [iiii:’ii] v. tr. to take; eee ee ewep; I’ll take that corn, thanks.
eeee ee ee [iiii:’ii:ii] v. tr. to steal; ip eee ee ee; hey, he stole my avocado!
eeee eee [iiii:’iii] v. to abscond; eeee eee ee chrp; he absconded with my paper towel.
eeee eee e [‘iiii:iii:i] n. dinner. eeee eee e eep; I’m ready for my dinner now.
eeee eeee [iiii:iiii:] v. to feed; eeee eeee pwip! feed me, I’m starving!

(I think I originally saw this in a post at Language Hat, but it was a while ago, so I can’t quite remember.)

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