Holy Cow!

by Boze Hadleigh

  P.S. Despite its beginning with horn—the origin of hornswoggled is unknown.

  Mascots

  Surprisingly, “unlucky” black cats have been used more often in advertising than other colors. Two examples: Cat’s Paw Rubber Heels—“non-slip”—and Eveready Batteries, the latter because of the myth that cats have nine lives.

  Tigers go back to 1913 as mascots for gas companies. Humble Gasoline employed one, and in 1959 the Oklahoma Oil Company launched its slogan “Put a tiger in your tank!”

  It’s been said that in cereal advertising the top dog is Tony the Tiger, who bowed in 1952 on packages of Kellogg’s Sugar Frosted Flakes, which he shared with Katy the Kangaroo (can you believe it). In the 1970s cereal companies dropped the word “Sugar.” Originally, Tony stood on all fours, later evolving into a bi-ped. He was given a son, Tony Jr., whom he eventually taught the alleged value of Frosted Flakes. Tony Jr., solo, sold Kellogg’s Frosted Rice cereal. Tony Sr. also had a wife and daughter who later disappeared, as did the son, replaced by real human children.

  Another still-popular big-cat mascot is Chester the Cheetah, who advertises Cheetos cheese puffs.

  (Black cats were deemed unlucky because of the association between black and Hades or “hell.” In the western world black is the color of death (e.g., the Black Death) and mourning—in East Asia the mourning color is pure white, signifying departure from a corrupt world.)

  Raining Cats and Dogs

  One of the most famous animal declaratives is “It’s raining cats and dogs.” There’s no one definitive explanation of its origin. However, in English, “dog” and “frog” rhyme, and through the centuries tales were repeated about actual windstorms when frogs were swept up by a strong gale, then dropped out of the sky—raining frogs. Cockney rhyming slang eventually changed “frogs” (wouldn’t a rain of frogs be gross?) to the more appealing “cats and dogs” (though a shower of felines and canines would also be rather startling).

  Additionally, some cultures believed cats held sway over storms, especially at sea, hence the numerous nautical terms with feline references. The Vikings usually included dogs in myths and illustrations of their god of storms. Thus, many northern Europeans held cats responsible for rain and dogs for gales. (Probably no connection, but the surname of dog-lover Dorothy in the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz—where she wore silver, not ruby, slippers—is Gale.)

  “Raining cats and dogs” made its bow, or bow-wow, in literature in 1738 via Jonathan Swift, the Irish author of Gulliver’s Travels. In A Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious Conversation, he wrote, “I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs.”

  In his 1653 play City Wit, Richard Broome predicted, “It shall rain dogs and polecats.” Of course in North America polecat now means a skunk.

  Nine Lives

  Probably the first culture to believe cats had more than one life was the ancient Egyptian, where cats were deified—the cat goddess was Bast or Bastet—and well treated as pets. On the other hand, being adored had its drawbacks (i.e., sacrifice). A huge percentage of cat mummies found in temple precincts have been of kittens and young cats. Why? So priests wouldn’t have to spend as much feeding them as longer-lived cats. (The ritual murders were usually done by snapping their necks.)

  Yet pet cats were pampered and esteemed. That, plus their natural caution and ability to survive falls from considerable heights, gave some people the impression that cats lived on and on. The expression that cats had nine lives dates back to at least the 1500s, as so many do. Nine may be the result of the favored Christian number three (Trinity . . .) multiplied by itself.

  Kitten. . .

  A kitten is also the young of other animals, like beavers and rabbits. The word is used in the names of various furry gray and white moths.

  To kitten is to give birth to kittens, but in Britain to have kittens is slang, usually about females, for being very nervous or upset or even hysterical. In medieval Europe it was believed that if a pregnant woman experienced pains, “She was bewitched and had kittens clawing at her inside her womb.” Desmond Morris in his 1986 Catwatching explained that up through the 17th century “an excuse for obtaining an abortion was given in court as ‘removing cats in the belly.’”

  A kitten heel is a modified high heel usually worn by a girl or very young woman.

  “As weak as a kitten” means feeble or very weak (notice it’s not as weak as a puppy).

  To be kittenish is to act playful or flirtatiously or foolishly younger than one’s age. As with most things kitten, it’s mostly reserved for females. Kitten used to be a favorite nickname for a younger daughter—as in the TV series Father Knows Best.

  The reason one doesn’t see teacup cats, versus teacup dogs, is that feline genes are far less plastic than those of dogs, which are the most genetically malleable of mammals. It’s not only difficult to miniaturize or interbreed cats, there’s little demand for it. Housecats are relatively small already—in significant ways they’re miniatures of the wild big cats.

  P.S. Roughly one out of every 3,000 calico cats is a male.

  Kit Cat

  Why is there a myriad of Kit Cat Clubs the world over (sometimes spelled Kit Kat, as in the movie Cabaret)? Kit is a longtime nickname for both Christopher and Katharine (friends of the American stage star called her Kit Cornell). But the first Kit Cat Club was named after a Christopher Cat, in 1703 in London. A cook by trade, Cat was a Whig, a member of Britain’s reformist party (equivalent to US Democrats). He held political meetings in his mutton-pie shop, where the group became known as the Kit Cat Club.

  Sir Godfrey Kneller painted the portraits of its fourty-two members (they can be seen in London’s National Portrait Gallery). Each painting was 28” by 36”, less than half-size, a format now known as kitcat.

  The Kit Cat Club lasted two decades, but the prestige of its alliterative name was resurrected in more permissive times when Kit Cat Clubs—sometimes styling themselves “for gentlemen only”—sprouted like mushrooms, often as strip clubs (Tom Cat Clubs would be more appropriate). An innocent carryover of the name still accrues to those delicious Kit Kat candy bars.

  Kit and caboodle has no feline origin; kit refers to required items or equipment.

  Kitty. . .

  Kitty is an affectionate nickname for a cat. It’s also a fund of money for communal use or a money pool in certain card games or the small white ball in bowls at which players aim. The word is said to have originated with a kitbag, a canvas bag containing a soldier’s possessions but sometimes used to hold the group’s pot, or the sum of their bets. To feed the kitty is of course to add to it and make it grow.

  Kitty-corner is the North American term for cater-cornered (sometimes cater-corner), also known as catty-cornered. Cater-cornered was first recorded in 1519, as “the point diagonally across a square or intersection,” same definition as today. A square has four corners, and the root of the term isn’t feline, it’s four in French: quatre. Note again the tendency to turn neutral words into more familiar or comforting animal words like kitty. Southern US variations include kittywampus, kiddywampus, cattywampus and, yes, caterwampus.

  Since we’re that close to “caterpillar,” did you know it’s from an Old French word meaning hairy cat? Now, that took some imagination.

  Wildcat. . .

  The wildcat is a small Eurasian and African cat, usually gray with black markings, believed to be the ancestor of the domestic cat. It’s also a term for any small wild feline, particularly a bobcat, which is a North American lynx with a spotted and barred coat and a short tail, hence the “bob.” When someone is said to be lynx-eyed, they have very sharp eyesight.

  A wildcat is a fierce, temperamental person, in sexist parlance typically a female. A wildcat is also an exploratory oil well, as well as the verb for to prospect for oil. The title of Lucille Ball’s sole Broadway musical, the 1960 Wildcat, combined all three meanings.

  A wildcat strike is spontaneous a
nd called without the authorization of union officials.

  Wildcat is also an adjective meaning commercially risky or unsound, as in a business scheme.

  Comic and Cartoon Cats

  There are arguably more comic and cartoon cats than any other animal. They came—now that human characters dominate toons and comic strips—in all shapes, sizes, types, and temperaments. Of course there were cat-and-mouse cats, like Jerry’s Tom, and cat-and-bird cats such as Sylvester with the lisp, obsessed with capturing Tweety Bird. There were the anonymous villainous felines who threatened but lost out against Mighty Mouse and other mini heroes. There was the ditzy Krazy Kat, a stereotypically lovelorn female, also Mehitabel, an alley cat who was Cleopatra in a past life but currently loved Archy, a cockroach with the soul of a poet.

  No-nonsense, problem-solving Felix the Cat was internationally famous in the early 20th century and influenced Walt Disney early on. Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat eventually made it out of the book pages, and the 1960s yielded Snagglepuss, a unique pink and possibly gay mountain lion fond of declaring, “Heavens to Murgatroyd.” More recently there are Fritz the Cat, Heathcliff, Garfield, and Hello Kitty, et cetera, et catera.

  For a time, there was talk of turning the hit musical Cats into a TV cartoon series. The time passed, but Cats is not forgotten (though many have tried).

  Feline Expressions

  Few people exclaim “Holy cow!” any more, but even fewer say “Holy cats!” which used to be a common phrase, deriving of course from the ancient Egyptian veneration of felines. Using “holy” in an expression was long believed to avert bad luck or keep evil spirits at bay.

  “To bell the cat” is to personally risk danger for the common good and comes from the classic tale of the group of mice who met and decided that it would be an excellent idea to put a warning bell on their feline enemy for their mutual safety. Alas, no one mouse was courageous enough to try and bell the cat.

  “In the dark all cats are gray” is obvious and could apply to any animal or thing but became associated in a derogatorily sexual way with women as discussed by disgruntled men (notice one never hears about gruntled employees . . .).

  “Has the cat got your tongue?” became widespread in the 19th century and has since been shortened to “cat got your tongue?” Originally, it was a presumption of guilt, usually on the part of an adult—including generations of nannies—toward a child. It also was and remains an admonition to a shy child to speak up. For many centuries Europeans believed cats disliked and punished children, also that a cat would perch near a sleeping baby in its cradle, waiting for a chance to “steal his breath.”

  To play cat and mouse is self-evident. Note that cartoons featuring a cat and mouse inevitably make the cat a villain; it’s not sexism, for the cat is almost always male. Rather, it’s the David and Goliath syndrome, favoring the smaller being—or underdog.

  When the cat’s away, the mice will play. So do kids, when the adults are away.

  Like the cat that swallowed the canary means being guilty but looking innocent, even elated.

  A cat may look at a king is a rare pro-equality proverb from centuries back, a snub to snobbism.

  To see which way the cat jumps is to sit on the fence and make a choice only after the majority of one’s political party or the public does—that is, an opportunist.

  To “kick the cat” is to take out one’s anger on an innocent being.

  “Like a cat on a hot tin roof”—“a cat on hot bricks,” in Britain—denotes somebody very agitated or awkward. The success of Tennessee Williams’s play Cat On a Hot Tin Roof and its film version gave an added meaning of surviving in difficult circumstances.

  Cub

  Cub, from the 16th century, is of unknown origin. It refers to the young of a lion, fox, bear, or other carnivorous animal and to a junior branch of the Scout Association, also to any young or new member of a group, for example, a cub reporter.

  Chit is widely used in Britain, typically in “a chit of a girl,” for a young woman who’s impudent, arrogant, or simply disapproved of. The word, whose original meaning was a shoot or sprout, also referred to cubs, kittens, and whelps, a whelp being a puppy, a cub or, derogatorily, a boy or young man.

  Dandelion

  For reasons unknown to us—maybe they were being pretentious—in the 1500s the English stopped calling what we know as a dandelion a lion’s tooth and took up the French name, dent de lion, meaning lion’s tooth. The spelling and pronunciation mutated with time. Though the flower doesn’t at all resemble a lion’s tooth, its deeply indented leaves do. (Indent comes from Latin in meaning in and dent meaning tooth.)

  One is reminded of two Brits: Harry says to Alf, “What’s the matter, you act like you don’t like me anymore.” Alf says, “It’s not that. It’s just that you’ve become so pretentious lately.” Says Harry, “Pretentious! Moi?”

  Lion. . .

  Europe considered the lion the king of the jungle because the larger tiger was found elsewhere—in Asia—and because of the male lion’s impressive mane. So, via the concept that might makes right, the lion’s share is bigger than anyone else’s. It also derives from Aesop’s fable in which a lion and three other animals kill a stag for dinner and divide it into four parts. But the lion, greedy and a bully, insists that as “ruler” he deserves another portion, and then more because of his strength and courage. The final portion he allows the cowed trio to share—if they dare, he warns.

  A literary lion is a famous author, heretofore male, while to lionize somebody is to treat them as a VIP.

  A lion-hunter is a hostess or host who seeks celebrity guests to impress their friends and other guests.

  Lion-hearted means courageous—it should be borne (free. . .) in mind that most kills made by lions are via the lioness.

  A lion’s den is an uncomfortable or dangerous place.

  A lion tamarin is a small Brazilian monkey with golden or golden and black fur, its cuteness if anything emphasized by its erect lionlike mane.

  Lion-colored is an apt adjective when it describes something both majestic and lion-colored, like the sandstone cliffs behind the mortuary temple (Deir el Bahri) of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut near Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.

  Famous leonine expressions include: to beard the lion in his den—to visit a VIP at their headquarters—to put one’s head in the lion’s mouth—to foolishly expose oneself to great danger—and to throw someone to the lions—to abandon somebody to a harsh fate.

  The British lion is the symbol of Great Britain. Ergo to twist the lion’s tail is to provoke or humiliate Great Britain.

  Lions and Tamers and Chair

  Ever wonder why or if lions are afraid of kitchen chairs? They’re not, but any substantial object may be used to control or puzzle a big cat. It was famed lion tamer Clyde Beatty, who trained lions from 1920 till the late 1960s—when he died in a car accident—who introduced the chair. Keeping a lion at bay involves not letting it think it can hurt you, which is why most injured lion tamers complete their act. Running or showing fear turns a human into potential prey. Conversely, approaching a lion, with or without a chair, confuses a lion, for no prey approaches a lion.

  The whip that most lion tamers also use provides a noisy distraction.

  An alleged life-saving tip if one encounters a lion in the wild (or one escaped from a zoo) is to stay still—do not run away from it. If it begins to crouch, thus commencing hunting mode and a fatal leap, actually run toward the lion and yell. If you dare—oh, my!

  Sphinx

  The best known sphinx is the giant one carved out of rock near the pyramids at Giza in Egypt, representing the pharaoh Chepren, whose head it bears. Traditionally, a sphinx (sphinges, the plural, is considered archaic) has the body of a lion and the head of a woman, as did the prototype in Greek mythology. She also had wings and killed anyone who couldn’t answer the riddle she put to them. The Sphinx’s mother was Echidna, who was half woman and half serpent and lived in a cave
and ate men.

  An echidna is a porcupine anteater—a rare egg-laying mammal—native to Australia and New Guinea (the spiny sea urchin, for instance, belongs to the phylum of Echinoderms). Its name comes from Greek ekhidna, viper.

  A sphinx is also a mysterious person. Movie star Greta Garbo, who refused to grant interviews, was publicized as the Swedish sphinx.

  Sphinx is also a North American term for the hawkmoth, a big, fast-flying moth with a thick body and narrow forewings that feeds on nectar while it hovers. It’s a member of the Sphingidae family.

  A sphynx is a bizarre-looking hairless cat breed that originated in North America.

  Spinnakers, big three-cornered sails set forward of the mainsail of a racing yacht when running before the wind, are named after Sphinx, the 19th-century yacht that was the first to use such a sail.

  Tiger Critters

  The Tasmanian tiger, also known as a Tasmanian wolf, is a thylacine, a doglike carnivore with a striped rear end. The name derives from Greek thulakos, pouch, for the thylacine is or was a marsupial—tragically, it is now probably extinct.

  A tiger snake is a highly venomous Australian snake distinguished by brown and yellow bands.

  Tiger sharks are more than usually aggressive, live in warm seas, and wear dark vertical stripes.

  A tiger prawn, also known as tiger shrimp, is of course a larger shrimp and has dark bands. It lives in the Pacific and Indian oceans.

  A tiger worm is a brandling, a red earthworm with brighter stripes used as bait by anglers and in compost.

  Various striped butterflies have tiger in their names, for example, plain tiger and scarlet tiger.

  A tiger moth is thickset with boldly streaked and spotted wings and a hairy caterpillar known as a woolly bear.

  A tiger beetle has striped or spotted wing cases, is predatory and runs fast.

  East Asian Tigers

  Tiger Balm, a mentholated ointment out of Singapore, is exported worldwide but is especially popular in East Asia. Created in Burma in 1870, its non-English name is Gentle Tiger, as it’s said to combine gentle external pain relief, among other remedies, with the potency of a tiger (one of the Chinese inventor’s two sons was named Tiger). After the family successfully transferred to Hong Kong, in the 1930s they built the delightful Tiger Balm Gardens there and in Singapore to show appreciation for the public’s endorsement of their product. Sadly, the Hong Kong sculpture garden was razed to make room for an upscale housing development.