To varying degrees, I have learned Greek, Latin, German, French, and English, but dogish lies out of my reach. My grandmother spoke to her dog, but the snuffly little pug's responses never sounded anything like what my grandmother said to him. She said things like, "I do before to be a hudra hud," which meant "good dog." To request a photograph of the dog one would ask if it minded having its "wotytook." As a boy, I was sure it was a real language, but it wasn't - twas fun, but not dogish. Con Slobodchikoff says he has learnt the real thing, at least some of it, and only prairie dogish. According to an article in The New York Times Magazine, Slobodchikoff thinks there really is a language of prairie dogs: Prairie-dog communication is so complex, Slobodchikoff says — so expressive and rich in information — that it constitutes nothing less than language. So, what? Dogs talk? Apparently it's possible. The same might be true of whales ...