The Mlem, Boop, And Blep: What Your Pets Are Really Doing
Adam Greene
Understanding animals takes a language of its own. The weird and wonderful behaviors they exhibit from time to time are a large part of why we love them. There just aren't human words to cover them, so we are required to make some. In case you aren't up on the current popular vernacular, we're here to give you a handy visual aid!
MLEM
Mleming might look pretty normal to you. Every animal licks right? But there is something more to mleming.
When you see a cat mlem, it might be out of defiance or anger. This is licking with a purpose. It isn't always confrontational, like you see above. Sometimes it's a way to show affection.
Of course, it's hard to contain the excitement sometimes, and it's pretty easy for a mlem to get out of control! No one ever said being adorable is easy...or clean.
BLEP
A classic maneuver for all animals is the blep. That accidental tongue-hanging-out moment? That's a blep. It's also an important way that animals express themselves. How else could you understand how happy and adorable they are?
The blep is often far too cute to ignore. It might be a little intrusive to reach out and boop their tongues when your pets blep, but you have to.
Bleping isn't just for cats. While they are certainly notorious for it, their canine counter parts are just as guilty. Some people refer to a dog blepping as "blop," but there is no official ruling on which is correct. Until Merriam-Webster weighs in, either is acceptable.
Domestic animals share this obnoxiously cute trait with their wild counterparts as well. While we're not used to seeing them do it, even the most ferocious of wild beasts are prone to the occasional blep!
Why is it called a Blep?
A blep is called a blep after a Subreddit called Blep, r/Blep. This Reddit forum is dedicated to doggo bleps, kitty bleps, furry blep, and many a belp meme.
Why Do Cats Blep?
Cats blep as a way to express themselves and to learn about their environment. Cats use their tongues and taste to investigate many aspects of their surroundings. source.
Why Do Dogs Blep?
Dogs do not blep for the same reasons as cats. Sometimes that’s just a quirk of the dog, and sometimes a dog tongue blep is “Hanging Tongue Syndrome. If blepping is not normal for your dog, you will want to consult a vet.
BLEP vs MLEM
What’s the difference between a blep and a mlem?
As you can see from the images above, a blep is leaving the tongue out like the blep cat, and a mlem is licking. This licking can be lapping up water, licking, an animal, and can indicate emotion.
BOOP
The most common behavior that has an adorable but somewhat-unknown name is the "boop." To boop means to bop something on the nose or bop something with your nose. There are countless examples, but these are absolutely the cutest.
The excited boop happens fairly often, particularly with dogs. There is just something satisfying about bouncing something off of your nose like this. Admit it, if you could do this, you'd never stop.
Cats LOVE to boop. It's part of their personalities. They might do it as a "hello," as a "ha ha!" moment, or just to cause trouble when they are feeling rambunctious. No matter what the reason, it is always adorable.
The cross-species boop might just take the cake, however. If you can watch a kitten boop a dog and NOT smile, well, you're missing out.
While this is certainly not every strange behavior our pets exhibit, you now know three of the most common silly behaviors, and the next time you see your cat licking from the sink enthusiastically, you can smile at them and enjoy watching them mlem.
