Parrots can be very annoying like that: a friend of mine went on holiday and left her African Grey with me: the first day, it swore at me non-stop. Then it called me a fat fool: told me I was ugly enough to make an onion cry; suggested that when I was born, the doctor probably held me the right way up and slapped my face, instead of the usual inversion. Anyway, I tried everything to stop it, but it had no fear of humans, certainly not me, and it just subjected me to a barrage of screaming abuse from morning till night. In a fit of madness, I shut it in the fridge, hoping the thick door would at least drown out the worst of the noise.
The result? Silence. Absolute silence. I panicked, thinking I might have killed the silly thing, and threw the fridge door open.
Slowly, tentatively, the African grey stepped forward, and I'll never forget what it said:
"Sir, I must apologise profusely for my previous invective: such billingsgate is unworthy of a gentleman, and I wish to proffer my wing in friendship, gentlemanly respect and deference"
I accepted the apology in cautious and confused silence: the parrot went on...
"I don't know what the chicken I saw in that fridge did to upset you, but consider me a changed man"
True story........