this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2025
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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.
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.
Pspspsps is come here, tsktsktsk is get the fuck away from that; the latter sounds like a spray bottle
I grew up yelling out "HEERRRRE KITTYKITTYKITTYKITYY!"
Always a good option as well!
In Spanish typical sound I remember is kind of a psbsbsbsb, so pspspspsp sounds quite close for familiarity