COWS moo with their own regional accents, according to a group of dairy farmers. in the UK.

The phenomenon was noticed by members of the West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers Group, who found their cows had a distinctive local twang.

Farmer Lloyd Green, from Glastonbury, said: “I spend a lot of time with my ones and they definitely moo with a Somerset drawl.

“I’ve spoken to the other farmers in the West Country group and they have noticed a similar development in their own herds.

“I think it works the same as with dogs - the closer a farmer’s bond is with his animals, the easier it is for them to pick up his accent."

Cows in the Midlands, Essex, Norfolk and Lancashire were also found to have their own style of moo.


John Wells, Professor of Phonetics at the University of London, said: “This phenomena is well attested in birds. You find distinct chirping accents in the same species around the country.

“This could also be true of cows. In small populations such as herds you would encounter identifiable dialectical variations which are most affected by the immediate peer group."

Dr Jeanine Treffers-Daller, a reader in linguistics at the University of the West of England in Bristol, said the cows probably picked up the accents in the same way humans learn from their relatives.

She said: “When we are learning to speak, we adopt a local variety of
language spoken by our parents, so the same could be said about the variation in the West Country cow moo.”

A would-be robber was arrested after he tried to hold up his local town hall, mistaking it for a bank, Austrian police said on Wednesday.

Wearing a mask and waving a toy pistol, the unemployed man burst into the town hall in the village of Poggersdorf, southern Austria, and shouted: "Hold-up, hold-up!"

The building has a sign signalling there is a cash point on the outside wall, police said.

He realised his mistake when an employee explained to him where he was, police said in a statement, adding he fled to a nearby wood.



The 34-year-old man was arrested when he came back later to pick up his motorbike which he had parked outside the town hall.

Israeli police tailing a suspected senior underworld figure accidentally crashed into his vehicle, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Police put the suspected criminal under 24-hour surveillance a month ago and the man knew he was being followed, it said.

But on Tuesday, a police officer fell asleep at the wheel of his car and crashed into the man's vehicle in the southern city of Ashkelon, slightly injuring him, Yedioth reported.

Ashkelon police could not be reached by Reuters but told the newspaper an accident involving a police car and a jeep occurred in the city on Tuesday. They gave no further details....

Three Indian nationals, visiting Pattaya as tourists, were wandering in the general area of Third Road on Tuesday night when they found themselves intrigued by the charms of a lady boy. One of their number decided it would be interesting to see what all the fuss was about with regard to these men who dress as women and went off to a hotel room for a closer physical inspection of the lady boy’s hidden charms.

As seems to happen so often, the man not only managed to get a load off his mind he also had his wallet lightened to the tune of 300 US dollars and a two-baht gold necklace removed without his consent.

Upset with the turn of events, the Indian man found his friends and they repaired to a local coffee shop where the victim told his story to the owner and asked for help.
She called in local journalists and the trio eventually went ot make a report to Pattaya police.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A homeless woman refuses to stop bathing naked in Munich's public fountains despite being repeatedly fined for breaking public nudity laws.

Bild newspaper reported on Thursday the 44-year-old woman named "Bille", who weighs about 150 kg, can be seen almost every day with her bottles of soap and shampoo bathing in one of the Bavarian capital's 183 public fountains.

"She's already been charged on 21 occasions for such things as causing public disturbance as well as breaking and entering," a Munich police spokesman said.

A social worker told Bild that Bille keeps rejecting a room in a homeless centre.



"We can't force her," he said. .

Bubba The Fish....

CHICAGO - A popular Queensland grouper named Bubba who became a hero to young cancer victims for surviving a bout with the disease, has died, the fish's keepers at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium said on Thursday.

The 154-pound brown-and-white mottled fish, dubbed the "super grouper," began life as a female but changed into a male, surviving for three years after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy for a tumour that grew above his eyes.

He arrived at the aquarium in 1987 anonymously in a bucket, and was estimated to be 24 years old. He died on Tuesday, with results from a necropsy pending.

"Bubba overcame some incredible odds over the years, and that's what made him so special to us. His story of survival inspired so many of our guests and the public that followed him," said George Parsons, director of the aquarium's fishes department.

LONDON (Reuters) - An American man helped foil a burglary 4,589 miles away in northern England after spotting suspects raiding a shop whilst watching a webcam over the Internet, police said on Friday.

The man from Dallas, Texas was using a live camera link to look at Mathew Street, an area of Liverpool synonymous with the Beatles as it is home to the famous Cavern Club where the band regularly played.

He saw intruders apparently breaking into a sports store and alerted local police.

"We did get a call from someone in Dallas who was watching on a webcam that looks into the tourist areas, of which Mathew Street is one because of all the Beatles stuff," a Merseyside Police spokeswoman told Reuters.



"He called directly through to police here."

Officers were sent to the scene and three suspects were arrested.

AMSTERDAM - A German outsize shoemaker said he will fly to China next week with three pairs of size 57 ladies shoes as a special and much-needed gift for Yao Defen, believed to be the world's tallest woman.

Georg Wessels, who lives in Germany and the Netherlands, said he had spent years trying to track down Yao, who is from a poor farming family in eastern China's Anhui province and 2.36 metres (7.74 ft) tall, according to Chinese doctors.

"I wrote to China to ask her what kind of shoes she would like and in what colour. She answered she didn't care at all what colour they were she would just be so happy to have some proper footwear," Wessels said.

The largest shoes he has made so far were a size 69 for Matthew McGrory, who has the world's biggest feet, according to the Guinness World Records.



Yao, began treatment in June for a brain tumour which is largely responsible for her extraordinary height by stimulating her body to release excessive amounts of growth hormone.

arjay wrote:I don't know if I dare try and explain, in case I confuse things further.

But it looks like you used the end of quotes -

valentine wrote: Must go beers getting warm

confusion, maybe you should ask val on the "ask val" section. i am sure he knows.

valentine wrote:

You weren't one of the drivers BM

THAILAND. (TNA).

A Strange story today from a small town in northeast Thailand called Udon Thani approximatly 45 minutes drive from the Border town of Nong Khai.
The have been odd postings on an internet forum thats based in Udon Thani,the internet site is called Udon-map,on that web site there is a Forum for members to post topics,and have a general chit-chat also to supply useful information for the local area,but not exclusively the local Udon area.

The postings may be regarding any part of Thailand or any part of the world,among interesting topics there is interesting infomation about knitting,Ants,vertical blinds,cartoon type caracters in pink and yellow rubber suits,very good jokes,bj's,cement,buffalo's,two bob bits,statistics and percentages of posted topics and amount of nonposting posters that post no posts for other posters to read and reply with posts,and the most recent debate which has some members confused is a topic on" [quotes]". ie how to quote and how not to quote,when to quote when not to quote.place a [/ here or a [ there,confusing for some others not,
Hopefully the quote situation will sort itself out soon,never the less an all round good forum with interesting members.

By sombat sompong .