Cats and Word Recognition

I've been conducting a little experiment to see how many words my cats seem to understand.

Obviously they understand their names and will come when called.

All three Tallulah , Tippi and Ruby seem to understand certain words like :

Dinner

Baby

Sweetie pie

Beautiful

Good girl

Bad girl

Good night

Additionally Tallulah and Ruby , but not Tippi seem to understand:

Jump up

Chicken

Fetch it

I am sure there must be other words I use they understand , but these are the ones which got the most recognition from my girls.

I can see that some of these words are command words and some are affectionate words.

But they do seem to understand the meaning of these words.

I know dogs can understand a lot of human words , but my girls also seem to understand them too.

So what type of words do your cats respond to ?

This question is fascinating.  The one that comes to mind very quickly is actually a phrase I just used with Speedy 30 minutes ago.  When I came home from work, I asked her if she wanted to do "one click - two click"!!!  This is a phrase I use when I want to take her outside on her harness.      

It comes out like "Speedy wanna do one click - two click"???   She will come with me to get the harness.  When I am putting on the harness she will be ready to go and I still need to "click" the strap on the harness.  When I hear the snap I say", Oooh, one click -two click"!!!   

I definitely know she associates this with going outside which she loves because she will come right over to me!  

My four understand:

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Treats

Da Bird (Saying this gets the most reaction) Saying makes them run to their set places in the living room before we even get the toy out.

Brush

Bed Time

Garage (They are indoor only and get to play in the empty garage for a half hour when we come home from work)

Cimba understands:

Video (There are a couple YouTube Videos when he hears the song he will jump on daddy's lap to watch, they are snowmobile videos)

Dutchess understands:

Be Pretty (we turn the faucet on and she bathes herself in the morning then comes to the bathroom and jumps on toilet to be brushed when I get out of the shower)

I try to use the word "work" when I am getting ready to go.  I really think Speedy knows that I will have to leave soon.  I use the word because I don't want her to be so disappointed when I leave.  

My cats both understand Treat,  kitty, Soup, kim and dinner

Fluffy comes when I call her name.

Eclipse likes to walk on a leash and he understands Out, go around, inside, duck, bird,  wait and he used to understand 'big ugly spider!'

I think it's a combination of speaking to them and how much those words relate to what you are doing.

Robin knows his name (and will often waltz over at the mention of his name), yum yums, taste, chicken, sleepy, bed, and I think he might actually understand what it means when I say "it's ok", because he visibly relaxes.