@Plan_A_to_Y @mcc Same difference. The verb comes from a belief that parrots could never understand what they say.

Thing is, if you keep a pet like that - even budgies - you will notice that they may mimic sounds, but they don't mimic all sounds randomly in all situations. Their mimicry expresses a mood, and you can trace that back to the circumstances under which they learned the sound.

That does not mean they make sense of the words, but they do make sense.