We have a cat that lives next to us. I\u2019m surprised he\u2019s still alive considering all the potentially life-ending experiences he\u2019s gone through just since I\u2019ve known him. Maybe there really is something to the saying that a cat has nine lives. Thinking about that old saying that cats have nine lives got me to thinking about cats\u2026 I\u2019m not a big fan of cats but it occurs to me that we do have a lot of phrases in our language about cats. There are alley cats, cat burglars, catcalls, catgut, catnaps, cat o\u2019nine tails, cats eye marbles, the cat\u2019s meow, catty remarks, catwalks, cool cats, tomcats, copycats, hellcats, scaredy cats, and people often fight like cats and dogs, act like sourpusses, sit in the catbird seat and let the cat out of the bag. Of course there\u2019s more than one way to skin a cat, and remember that curiosity killed the cat. And if you\u2019re not talking about this blog to someone, maybe the cat got your tongue. When I\u2019m given a task or attempt to do something that\u2019s futile, I often use the phrase, \u201clike herding cats.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are a lot of old wives tales about cats \u2014 I heard my grandmother say numerous times that you should never let a cat be around a baby because cats suck the breath from a baby and the baby will die. There are a lot more \u201cwives tales\u201d about cats, like pregnant women shouldn\u2019t ever clean a cat\u2019s litter box, or that cats cause schizophrenia, or that cats can see ghosts.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of theories about how these old wives tales came about \u2014 the myth that cats have nine lives may have been started by a book in England written in 1854, that stated that a witch could only take on a feline form nine times. Probably as good a theory as any. Cats, especially black cats, are often associated with witchcraft. As for cats sucking the breath from babies, cats probably get close to the baby\u2019s mouth because they like the milky smell.<\/p>\n
So anyhow, our neighbor cat continues to do whatever it is he does and if the proverbial curiosity doesn\u2019t get him, I don\u2019t know what will. But I suppose he\u2019s nice to have around \u2014 he reminds me that not everything in nature has a purpose\u2026..
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We have a cat that lives next to us. I\u2019m surprised he\u2019s still alive considering all the potentially life-ending experiences he\u2019s gone through just since I\u2019ve known him. Maybe there really is something to the saying that a cat has … Continue reading