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| --What do cat actors say on stage? --Tabby or not tabby! --How do you know if your cat has eaten a duckling? --She's got that down in the mouth look! --What do you get if cross a cat with a canary? --Shredded tweet! --What do you get if you cross a cat with a tree? --cat-a-log! --Why did the cat join the Red Cross? --Because she wanted to be a first-aid kit! --How do you know that cats are sensitive creatures? --They never cry over spilt milk! --Why was the cat so small? --Because it only ate condensed milk! --What does the lion say to his friends before they go out hunting for food? --"Let us prey." --Why happened when the cat swallowed a coin? --There was some money in the kitty! --FROM THE "CAT SCRAPS" FILE: A LITTLE VOCABULARY: the editor of "A Word A Day" newsletter, recently spotlighted this fascinating word "caterwaul." Since it relates to cats, I decided to borrow it from him and share his research with you. It is another one of those "cat"-chy words we all love to learn and use when we talk about our favorite subject - CATS! --WORD: caterwaul \'ka-tehr-"wol\ (intransitive verb) : to make a harsh cry : to quarrel noisily --EXAMPLE SENTENCE: As Toonces darted across the main street, Dawn's piercing caterwaul was heard by the Jensen's at the other end of the block. --WORD WISE: From the Middle English "caterwawen." Date: 14th century. The earliest known use of this word comes in Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Prologue 1386: 'If the cat's skin be slick and grey, forth she will, ere any day be dawned, to show her skin, and go a-caterwauling.' The first element of the word is generally accepted to be cat, while the second (in Middle English it was usually -wawe or -wrawe) is resumably onomatopoeic, imitating the sound of a cat wailing or yowling. It is not clear whether it was a purely native creation, or whether English borrowed it from Low German katerwaulen (where kater means 'tom cat'). So there you are! |
| Just Some Cat Stuff |