# I just caught my budgie fake sneezing. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 6, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204 "2011-12-06T00:43:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/1 "2011-12-06T00:43:40Z")
One of my budgies does a lot of sneezing. It’s always sort of concerned me but at the same time I’ve always suspected it was fake. Whenever he “sneezes” I make the noise back to him and then he sneezes again and it goes back and forth a bit till he’s done and the sneezing fit has passed. This happened just a few minutes ago and then, about 10 minutes later, I wasn’t really thinking and made the sneezing noise again. Then he sneezed. So I did it again and sure enough, he sneezed again. It’s all been a big fake-out. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/2 "2011-12-06T00:51:13Z")
I opened this thread hoping to learn what the hell a “budgie” is, but I leave no more enlightened. Must be some kind of animal? ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/3 "2011-12-06T00:53:31Z")
Not a fake out, a conversation. He thinks sneezing is your special song for him. Unfortunately, my two think “Oh, shut up.” is an invitation to screech as loudly as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/4 "2011-12-06T00:55:13Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > I opened this thread hoping to learn what the hell a “budgie” is, but I leave no more enlightened. Must be some kind of animal? Bird. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/5 "2011-12-06T00:55:34Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > One of my budgies does a lot of sneezing. It’s always sort of concerned me but at the same time I’ve always suspected it was fake. > > Whenever he “sneezes” I make the noise back to him and then he sneezes again and it goes back and forth a bit till he’s done and the sneezing fit has passed. > > This happened just a few minutes ago and then, about 10 minutes later, I wasn’t really thinking and made the sneezing noise again. Then he sneezed. So I did it again and sure enough, he sneezed again. > > It’s all been a big fake-out. Little birdies sneeze when cleaning their nostrils. You sure that’s not it? ---
**Author:** ![missinformation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@missinformation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missinformation)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/6 "2011-12-06T00:56:01Z")
Maybe your bird was trying to garner sympathy? 🙂 My dog would do the “frozen paw” act out in the snow until I picked him up and carried him back home, inside my coat, of course. I swear, some animals would win the Academy Award if there was a creature category… ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/7 "2011-12-06T01:03:47Z")
> [@missinformation](#): > > Maybe your bird was trying to garner sympathy? 🙂 > > My dog would do the “frozen paw” act out in the snow until I picked him up and carried him back home, inside my coat, of course. > > I swear, some animals would win the Academy Award if there was a creature category… This is so true. A friend’s cat used to hold up a front paw after he’d had a broken bone. He got lots of attention and treats, poor baby. One day I refused to give him scraps from my plate and he raised his paw and looked pathetic. “Wrong foot.” I said. He put his paw down and raised the other one! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/8 "2011-12-06T01:39:59Z")
> [@missinformation](#): > > Maybe your bird was trying to garner sympathy? 🙂 I had a cat that would fake a hairball attack when I was eating something she wanted. I would put my plate down to see where she was when she started hacking, and she would jump up on the table and try to steal my food. She had real hairball attacks just often enough that I fell for the fake ones on a regular basis. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/9 "2011-12-06T03:19:40Z")
I say you’re just mercilessly teasing your poor little budgie when you do that. (Or maybe vise versa.) > [@Rigamarole](#): > > I opened this thread hoping to learn what the hell a “budgie” is, but I leave no more enlightened. Must be some kind of animal? I don’t see that anyone has given an very clear answer to this yet. Budgie is short for budgerigar, a kind of parakeet. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/10 "2011-12-06T06:16:59Z")
Heh…my cockatiel sneezes whenever I cough, sneeze or sniffle. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/11 "2011-12-06T06:30:27Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I don’t see that anyone has given an very clear answer to this yet. Budgie is short for budgerigar, a kind of parakeet. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budgerigar) has a picture. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/12 "2011-12-06T08:26:43Z")
Budgies are talented and mischevious mimics. I had one that used to nip me on the earlobe, then say “ouch!”. He also used to copy (with striking accuracy) the sound of a squeaky door hinge - so accurately that I kept re-oiling the hinge, thinking it had dried out, until I realised what was going on. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/13 "2011-12-06T08:30:21Z")
Once upon a time, my daughter stepped on my Siamese cat’s paw. Of course my daughter felt terrible about this, and told Sapphire that she was sorry, and that Sapphire was a poor abused kittycat. Sapphire evidently felt that she should always get this much attention, and would limp in front of Lisa for quite a while afterwards. She’d be walking normally, see Lisa, and then start to limp pathetically. When I was growing up, everyone in my area referred to budgies as parakeets, and I had no idea what the UK folks were talking about when they said budgies. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/14 "2011-12-06T08:49:50Z")
Budgies are just one species of parrakeet though - they’re probably the sort most commonly kept as pets, because they’re clean, sociable, attractive and fairly simple to care for - but there are many other kinds of parrakeet. I realise this is just a variation in regional terminology, but just wanted to expand on it. In the UK, if I tell people I have a parrakeet, they’re likely to assume I mean some sort of smallish parrot _other than a budgie_. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/15 "2011-12-06T13:14:11Z")
Mayme the cat also does the poor me thing. A few months ago she injured her right front paw. She’s fine now, until she gets in trouble. When I yell her name, she’ll immediately stop whatever she is doing (usually tormenting another cat), sit pretty, lift her right paw, and give me the big eyed Puss in Boots face. I felt bad the first time she did that. Now? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/16 "2011-12-06T13:50:15Z")
Our parrot is currently in the other room sneezing and doing a smoker’s hack and meowing and doing a fake sarcastic laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/17 "2011-12-06T13:59:08Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Little birdies sneeze when cleaning their nostrils. You sure that’s not it? In my experience, ACTUAL bird sneezes, that is, the snot-producing ones, tend to be almost silent. Just a teeny _'choo!_ that’s barely audible, if that, then a wad of birdsnort hits the side of your neck or whatever. If what a bird is doing sounds like a _human_ sneeze it’s almost certainly an imitation of human sneezing. Mine sniffs. In fact, I think he thinks the word for a facial tissue is _snifff!_. No doubt due to the association of one with the other. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/18 "2011-12-06T14:39:13Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > In my experience, ACTUAL bird sneezes, that is, the snot-producing ones, tend to be almost silent. Just a teeny _'choo!_ that’s barely audible, if that, then a wad of birdsnort hits the side of your neck or whatever. Maybe it’s different for parakeets but our cockatiels can be loud enough to hear from across the room. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/19 "2011-12-06T15:37:01Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > In my experience, ACTUAL bird sneezes, that is, the snot-producing ones, tend to be almost silent. Just a teeny _'choo!_ that’s barely audible, if that, then a wad of birdsnort hits the side of your neck or whatever. > > If what a bird is doing sounds like a _human_ sneeze it’s almost certainly an imitation of human sneezing. > > Mine sniffs. In fact, I think he thinks the word for a facial tissue is _snifff!_. No doubt due to the association of one with the other. I had a cockatiel that scared itself once farting. I was sitting next to it, it was on the cage and I was looking over to see if he needed a refill on his water and I heard this pffft sound and he looked back at his tail and looked startled. He was hand raised by a friend of mine, he used to ‘wolf whistle’ at people, and liked to groom my eyelashes. I really miss him =( ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204/20 "2011-12-06T17:56:01Z")
I know several people whose birds can accurately reproduce the sounds of their favorite video games. It somewhat surprising to me that the birds haven’t started to imitate the noise of a toilet flushing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-caught-my-budgie-fake-sneezing/605204.md?page=2)