“It’s been a wild goose chase this morning, Squeaks,” said Momanita.
Momanita uncovered my rolly nest later than usual. Which meant that my millet snack was later than usual.
“Why were you chasing geese?”
To other hootmans this sounded like squeals and whistles, but not to Momanita. She MOSTLY understood cockatiel speak. I MOSTLY understood hootman talk.
“I thought the early bird got the worm,” said Momanita. “I was wrong.”
Momanita tucked a sprig of millet between the bars for me to nibble.
“Robin missed the worm?”
I watched Robin pull nightcrawlers from the lawn. He usually won that tug of war.
“I wanted to kill two birds with one stone today,” said Momanita. “I left early . . . “
“You what!”
I quit pecking at the millet. My Momanita who fed birds, watched birds, and read about birds wanted to KILL two of them with a rock?
“What’s wrong, Squeaks?”
My crest flared. I turned my back to Momanita AND her millet.
“Is it something I said?” Momanita scrunched her forehead and thought.
“Definitely!”
“My morning didn’t go well,” said Momanita. “Early this morning I tried to finish two jobs and because of problems, I didn’t finish either one.”
“Problems with geese and worms and killing birds,” I said.
“No geese or worm problems, and I didn’t kill birds,” said Momanita, “but now I understand that you don’t understand.”
“Wild goose chase, early bird gets the worm, and killing two birds with one stone are idioms.
Idioms are phrases that mean something else than what the words actually say,” explained Momanita. “I wonder how these phrases came to be part of our language.”
When Momanita wondered, she thought of questions.
When she thought of questions, she looked for answers.
When she looked for answers, she needed my help.
“Maybe we should Google it.”
I climbed out of my rolly cage into my writing nest. Momanita climbed the stairs to HER writing nest. She scooted her chair to the computer and tapped the keyboard. I perched on top the writing nest and pecked at my millet.
Chasing A Wild Goose
“I wasn’t chasing wild geese this morning,” said Momanita. “I was chasing millet.”
“Millet is seed. It doesn’t have legs or wings.”
I’m happy I didn’t have to chase millet.
“First, I drove to Beasts and Birds pet store. They didn’t have any.”
“No millet?”
This was an emergency!
“Then I drove across town to the new pet store, and they didn’t have any either. So, all that driving and no millet.”
This was a serious emergency!
“Wild goose chase means to put time and effort in accomplishing a task and failing.”
“Don’t give up!”
I pecked at my millet slowly to make it last.
“Look here, Squeaky,” said Momanita. “It’s pretty easy to catch a wild goose, it you use treats.”
Momanita played a YouTube video about a man capturing an injured Canada goose. I wondered if he used millet.
“So, if a wild goose is easier to catch than it sounds, how did it come to mean something that can’t be accomplished?”
Momanita typed and read.
I thought about millet.
“Here it is!” said Momanita. “Long ago Wild Goose Chase was a game played on horseback. The lead rider created an unplanned course and the other riders did their best to follow, which was a difficult task. Eventually it came to mean a hopeless task.”
Early Bird Getting
“I thought if I started early that I’d finish what I needed to do. That’s what ‘the early bird gets the worm’ means.”
“Robin hunts worms on our lawn early,” I said.
“There may be some truth to this saying,” said Momanita. “Worms need moisture to move easily over the grass. So, when there’s early morning dew or rain the worms will surface. If there’s an early bird there, the worm becomes breakfast.”
“I wish I could catch millet. I’d get up early for millet.”
“Scientists found that some birds pound the ground with their feet. This sounds like rain to earthworms and they come to the surface,” said Momanita. “This is really interesting.”
Finding millet would be more interesting.
Birds And Stones
“This morning I thought that I could stop at the pet store for millet. On the way I could get gas for the car,” said Momanita. “I’d accomplish two tasks at once and save time.”
“So, what are you doing about the millet shortage?”
“Long ago, hunters used slingshots,” read Momanita. “Usually, one stone in the slingshot killed one bird for dinner.”
“I’m glad you’re not a hunter.”
“A skillful hunter could kill two birds with one stone flung from his slingshot. That saved time.”
“A skillful shopper could find millet.”
“Should we write about idioms, Squeaks,” Momanita said.
“I think we should write about idioms and how it’s important to understand what each other is saying.”
To other hootmans this sounded like squeals and whistles, but not to Momanita. She MOSTLY understood cockatiel speak. I MOSTLY understood hootman talk.
“We’ll start writing soon,” said Momanita. “First, I want to order millet online. It’ll be delivered tomorrow.”
Check out Momanita’s book, OPERATION HOPPER.
Anita Borgo 