Learning to speak Arfish

Little Dog had an idea this morning.

Do you want me to tell them or shall I?
"Arf arf arf."

Ok, I'll tell them.
This was his idea:
"Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf, arf arf arf arf arfy arf arf arf arf arf arfs arf arf arf."

Or in english: "If you teach the people reading the blog how to speak Arfish, then I will be able to write my own blog posts in Arfish without you having to translate for me." (Incidentally, the Arfish word for Arfish is "Arf".)

Now it seemed to me that this was a very good idea. I thought we should start with some important Arfish phrases and their English equivalents, so here goes:

Arfish	English
Arf	Yes
Arf	No
Arf arf	Hello
Arf arf	Goodbye
Arf arf	Good night
Arf arf arf	I love you

Context plays a big part in Arfish, as does intonation. For example, for someone who doesn't appreciate the subtleties of the language it may be hard to distinguish "Hello" from "Goodbye". But you may gather that Little Dog is more likely to be saying "Hello" at the beginning of a conversation and "Goodbye" at the end. And if he holds open his arms and gives you a big (big for a Little Dog) hug while saying "Arf arf arf", then he is almost certainly saying "I love you".

To be honest with you, a lot of the time there is a certain amount of guess work to it, but the important thing is to keep listening attentively, and you can be sure he will eventually make his meaning clear.

What do you think, L.D. ... is that a good introduction?

"Arf." (He's smiling.)

See! you are already starting to understand Arfish!
Bet you didn't think you'd pick it up so quickly!

Shall we sign off for today?
"Arf arf arf arf arf arf?"

How about a picture?
Ok, let me find one...























"Arf arf arf arf Arf arf."
One of you and Petie? Ok, let me look: