What affects us affects cats
I’ll quote from Dr Desmond Morris’s book CATWATCHING: “A description of the impact of a severe city storm, written by Jonathan Swift in 1710, supports this view [the death by drowning of stray cats and dogs after a storm in cities where there was poor drainage]: ‘Now from all parts the swelling kennels flow, …
The saying “no room to swing a cat” is commonly used to describe a very cramped or confined space. Its exact origin is somewhat debated, but there are two main theories: As I mention in the infographic, I very much favour the naval origin as it makes far more sense. It is obvious why …
More: Sayings and superstition Long-hand explanation: The phrase “having kittens” to describe someone who is extremely upset or anxious likely originates from older superstitions and expressions related to cats and childbirth. One theory traces it back to medieval folklore, where it was believed that pregnant women who were startled or frightened could “give birth” …
Although the idiom has been explained a million times, I don’t think there are many infographics on this so here is one that I have just prepared. ‘Idiom’ – a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g. over the moon, see the light ). There …
In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland readers encounter a large, grinning cat lying on the hearth. Alice is told that the cat is grinning from ear to ear because they are from Cheshire but there’s no explanation as to why cats from that county in England (see map below) should be predisposed to smiling …
In the news at the moment there is a plethora of cat analogies to describe the trials and tribulations of Boris Johnson, the UK’s former prime minister who recently resigned due to a cascade of criticism over his inability to stick to the rules. In the Sunday Times today there is a big article …
What the hell does a “dead cat strategy” mean? I don’t like the phrase already even though immediately before writing this I had no idea what it meant. I think it is disrespectful and I think it is incorrect to create an image of a dead cat in order to get a message across. …
This post is all about the origin of the old and rarely used saying, “raining cats and dogs” plus its meaning. So, for people whose first language is not English, this phrase means “it is raining hard” or ” it is raining very heavily”. The literary extracts referred to below describe a situation when, …
