Listen, is that the call of a rare warbler? No, it's my new mobile ringtone
By Bryony Gordon
When I went shopping in Sainsbury's, the ringtones made several people jump. One
customer almost threw himself into a pile of lettuces as I walked past with a
tawny owl twit-twooing from my back pocket. The checkout assistant had the look
of a man who thought he might be going insane as a quacking sound resonated from
the depths of my shoulder bag.
At the Gadget Shop in Oxford Street, James Webb, a 24-year-year-old sales
assistant, declared himself unimpressed by the incessant squawking of a penguin
colony. "It's the wildlife equivalent of the Nokia tune [made infamous by Dom
Joly and Trigger Happy TV]. In fact, I think it may be even more irritating," he
complained.
The notion that you can now allocate a particular wildlife ringtone to a
specific caller captured the imagination of many - particularly the concept of
using howling wolves for the in-laws. In Trafalgar Square, Linda Belenkin, 47,
laughed when she heard the pig grunts. "I might download that and use it as a
warning that my bank manager is calling."
Richard Ranft believes that a more appropriate use of the grunt might be to
signal that someone's husband is calling. "However, not wanting to be sexist, I
should state that there is also a mooing cow, which I suppose could be used for
a wife."
More complimentary was James Webb's suggestion that the pretty twitter of the
house martin could be used for a girlfriend.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the biggest fans of the new ringtones were two
seven-year olds called Amelia and Roy at London Zoo. For almost an hour, they
crowded around, marvelling at the sounds coming from the mobile phone - in
particular the penguin squawks. But that could be because Amelia and Roy are
penguins.
Cute! (by forestgum, Jul 14th, 2007)
