One day an elderly priest confides in his parishioners that he's feeling a bit lonely and depressed. So one of the parishioners suggests to the priest that he buy a pet. Thinking this a grand idea, the priest hurries into town and after much deliberation, buys a parrot.

Unfortunately not five minutes after arriving home, the parrot starts hurling a string of expletives at the priest.

After about an hour it gets to be too much, so the priest walks up to the parrot, slaps him on the beak, and yells, "QUIT IT!" But this just makes the parrot madder and he starts swearing at the priest in even more colourful language.

Finally the priest has had it and says, "All right, that's it. Grabbing a blanket, the priest throws it over the parrot's cage and screams, "Now, SHUT UP!" Well, this really irritates the parrot and he starts clawing and scratching at the bars of his cage. Finally the priest removes the blanket. Immediately the parrot starts right in on the priest again.

By this time, the priest is so infuriated that he grabs the parrot by the throat and throws him into the freezer. Well, the parrot starts swearing and thrashing about so loudly that the priest is considering killing the bird. Just as he's thinking this, it gets very...very quiet.

At first the priest just stares at the refrigerator, but then he starts to think that the parrot might be seriously injured. He becomes so worried that he runs over to the refrigerator and throws open the freezer door.

The parrot climbs out of the freezer, flaps the ice off his wings, and says, "Awfully sorry about the trouble I've caused you father. In the future, I'll do my best to improve my vocabulary."

The priest is astounded. He can't believe the sudden transformation that has come over the parrot. Finally the parrot turns to the priest and says, "Um.... by the way father, what did the chicken do?"