African Grey Parrots can be remarkable mimics. They will imitate whatever gets the most reaction. Some know just the right inflection and emphasis to put on certain vowels. You would ‘swear’ that the bird knows exactly what he’s saying.
Too expensive and too loud for me to own one, though.
MSM in 5...4..3..2..1... WHY DOESN’T TRUMP HAVE A SWEARING DOG?!?!
Winston Churchill also had a foul-mouthed Macaw known as Charlie the Curser. It’s still alive (119 years old) and lives in a zoo in Surrey.
They do far more than mimick. They speak in context, knowing the meaning of the words. Even my Blue and Gold Macaw speaks in context, but Greys can have vocabularies over 2,000 words.
To say they merely mimick is quite laughable.
Years ago we had a neighbor who had built her house around a huge, glass enclosure designed for their mynah bird. My kids were charged with caring for that bird when the owners were out of town. Among his many talents, the mynah bird spoke in a Scottish brogue (owner was a Scot) and did a great imitation of the garbage disposal. After the first baby arrived, he did a perfect imitation of the newborn’s cries which caused a problem for the parents.
My ex husband had an African Grey named Pedro. Smart and hilarious. They live long lives so he may still be around.
Greys are big talkers, I have always wanted one. I have budgies and a parrotlet and the most I get out of them are purrs and beeping noises.
A friend of mine had an African Grey which could talk just as you have described. But it didn’t talk all that often even though it was real good at it.
Someone gave her another large parrot, a Salmon-crested Cockatoo named Gil. Gil liked to whistle and squawk and generally make a lot of noise. He also got on the nerves of my friend’s daughter Mary.
Whenever Gil would squawk Mary would yell “Shut Up, Gil!”. The African Grey, of course, learned to mimic Mary’s voice precisely and whenever Gil would squawk the Grey would call out “Shut up, Gil!”. Even sounded like he was angry. Wish I had that for Youtube...
Also very long-lived, and you have to make plans for birds like that - they often go into mourning and self-plucking behavior when their owners die or they are parted from them.