this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2025
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Pspspspsps (lemmy.world)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by ickplant@lemmy.world to c/cat@lemmy.world
 

::: spoiler Transcription A Bluesky post from "Slippy", @damnslippy.slippy.me, with a profile picture of a woman with short, purple hair holding a knife: Sincerely delighted to discover, 45 minutes into this nearly-wordless three-hour documentary about French monks who take vows of silence, that among the reasons they \*can\* talk is "to make sure the monastery cats know when it's mealtime by making little kitty-calling noises at them." :::

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[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 14 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Only it was probably not "pspspsp" because as a French speaker, I've never understood that English onomatopoeia. It doesn't make that sound in French. When I try to get the attention of a cat or another animal, it's usually more of a "dzkdzkdzk" or "tzktzk" sound. A bit like the sound of a kiss but made with tapping the tongue on the roof of the mouth instead of with the lips.

[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Pspsps is like how a cartoon calls a cat, from my American perspective. As a kid we called cats with a tsktsk sound, clicking tongue against the roof of the mouth behind the front top teeth, as you say. But I hear people use pspsps more now irl so it bled into reality.

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Pspspsps is come here, tsktsktsk is get the fuck away from that; the latter sounds like a spray bottle

[–] hereiamagain@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I grew up yelling out "HEERRRRE KITTYKITTYKITTYKITYY!"

[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Always a good option as well!

[–] sircac@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

In Spanish typical sound I remember is kind of a psbsbsbsb, so pspspspsp sounds quite close for familiarity