Hi, Melanie,
We reached a point where we referred to our gerbils as "burbs"! The
transition went something like this:
gerbils
gherbils (just to be funny)
burbles (from Louis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" ..."and burbled as it came."
again, just to be funny)
burbies (the diminutive form of "burble", of course!)
burb (an even shorter form of "burble")
We also referred to those little boxing matches that they sometimes
engage in, the ones that end in one or the other getting groomed, as
"grooming bickers".
Bye for now,
Mo
