::buffAlo Language::

Did you know that humans  can communicate with cattle using “cattle language”.   Yes, this is not a myth nor is it a joke.  Believe me, there is such a thing as “cattle language”! This is what I learn through my recent trip with my classmates to the Paddy Museum.

Cattle are important animals used during the traditional days of paddy cultivation. Nowadays, we hardly see farmers using buffaloes to work in the fields due to the advent of paddy cultivation machines.   Traditionally, The cattle do most of the heavy duty work  in the fields.  job. So, the farmers needed  a way to communicate with their cattles. There are  a few simple commands that the farmers  used when commanding their cattle to perform certain tasks. 

A buffalo pulling a plow

Cattle language information  displayed at the Paddy Museum

Here is the list of commands that a farmer usually used  to command  his  cattle. 

1.            Haih---to command the cattle to walk  

2.            Chah---to command the cattle to walk to the right   

3.            Sok---to command the cattle to walk to the left

4.            Diam---to command the cattle to stop

5.            serot---to command the cattle to move backward

6.            Paling Chah---to command the cattle to turn right

7.            Paling Sok---to command the cattle to turn left

I don’t really know the difference  between’ Chah’ and ‘Sok’ with ‘Paling Chah’ and ‘Paling Sok’ because I find that the commands  are almost the same (well, I’m not a farmer after all).

With this language, the farmer’s work was a lot easier because  he could  communicate with his cattle. I’m sure it was fun to have animals do thing as commanded.   If I were the farmer, I  would   like an expert animal trainer when commanding asking my cattle to do things in a certain manner.

Since we don’t have any cattle, I suggest you use these command on your friends and imagine that they are cattle(yes, I had done this with some of my friends). It is quite simple actually. Just use simple command like ‘Haih’ and  ‘Diam’ to your friends and see if they follow the command.If that did not work, maybe you can add few hand gestures and make them move.   Enjoy the show of your ‘new cattle’.After you have stopped laughing, make sure you tell them what they were actually doing….yea, following your “cattle language” commands. This will really throw them into a fit.   Well, it’s all  about having some fun….just give them a “roti canai and teh tarik” treat after that…Haha. 

So, now you know.

dear,

nadhir syahir