Our Gemara on Amud Aleph relates a scene that occurred in the Beis Midrash where Reish Lakish was screaming like a "cruchia" bird, and no one paid attention to his halakhic argument.

What was this "cruchia" bird? Some translate it as a crane, which apparently makes a very loud cawing sound. However, Rashi here identifies it as an Agur. Elsewhere, an Agur bird is identified with a parrot (see Radak Yirmiyahu 8:7. Radak himself learns that "cruchia" is a different bird enumerated in the verse, but Rashi might have understood the verse is repetitive, referring to two similar birds). The idea that it was a parrot fits well because it gives some context to Reish Lakish's colleagues' rejection of his argument. Just as a parrot may seem like it's talking but not making sense, so too Reish Lakish's peers really did not accept his argument. This might explain Rashi going out of his way to explain it as an Agur bird, when the Targum seems to imply crane.

It is sometimes difficult to hear the rabbis referring to each other with disrespect during their passionate argumentation, and yet this is a known feature of Talmudic discourse. Sefer Chofetz Chaim quotes a famous responsum of the Chavos Yair (152) who offers different explanations for this behavior. Sometimes they were rebukes because they held each other to high standards, and other times it was good-natured joking that was not taken as an offense. These answers may not satisfy, but if we imagine the following, it might be easier to accept. If two diamond merchants are discussing the various flaws and benefits of two gems, they might get into a heated argument. Their egos are not at stake because relative to the dazzling beauty of the gems under discussion, nothing else matters. It is different from two people arguing politics or sports where they invest their esteem in the team or party with which they identify. In regard to the gems, it is not a consciously thought-out humility but rather a self-evident sense of awe and passion in relation to the subject matter. So too, this may be the mentality of these sages, and their extravagant put downs were really in reaction to the pricelessness of the Torah.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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