Good morning, digital neighbors, and happy Tuesday! Since we gave some time to dog quotes yesterday, today it’s only fair to give equal time to the cats as we look at the origins of these familiar (or less familiar) phrases, depending on which generation you hail from. I was raised by members of the Greatest Generation and know so many of their phrases—even though I’m a surprise Gen X’er that Mom and Dad had at 40. Life and God love surprises, and along came Tommy!

Anyway—on to some interesting etymology from another fun book: Interesting Stories about Curious Words: From Stealing Thunder to Red Herrings by Susie Dent. Another “fun with words” title added to the collection!

From the introduction:
“But it was German that had me wrapped around its finger, a language so intensely lyrical and—yes—playful, that I felt chagrined on its behalf for its reputation of cold gutturalness. Who could resist such beauties as Fernweh, the longing to be far away? Or admire the usefulness of Verschlimmbesserung, an attempted improvement that ends up making things worse? As the jottings in my notebooks proliferated, I had little sense where they would take me, but I did know I would always want to live amongst words.”

“This was linguistic archaeology: digging up the foundations of words I loved gave them an extra dimension of magic.”

“In Interesting Stories about Curious Words, I have brought together thousands of my favourite eclectic stories about the language we use every day—the ‘Phrase’ in Brewer’s title. In selecting them I applied just one criterion: that every fact and every tale might elicit an ‘ah!’, an ‘of course!’ or maybe even a ‘what?’”

To let the cat out of the bag: To disclose a secret. The phrase is said to hark back to medieval markets, where unscrupulous traders might replace a piglet with a less valuable kitten. When the unwary buyer later opened their bag, they would realize the ruse.

To have kittens: To be extremely nervous or apprehensive. Pregnant cats are sometimes scared into premature kittening.

And one not mentioned by Susie but that I know (and Grok verified):

“Cat’s got your tongue” (or “Has the cat got your tongue?”) is a lighthearted idiom used to tease or question someone who is suddenly silent, speechless, or at a loss for words—often when they’re expected to speak but aren’t responding.

Earliest known use: It appears in 1881 in the U.S. magazine Ballou’s Monthly Magazine (Vol. 53): “Has the cat got your tongue, as the children say?” This suggests it was already a familiar saying among kids by then. It shows up again in literature, such as Henry Howard Harper’s 1911 novel Bob Hardwick.

Ivy & Holly in the basement window