What affects us affects cats
Cats don’t have nine lives and neither do dogs. Obviously they both have one life unless you believe in and include the afterlife or reincarnation which I am not doing here. “A cat has nine lives’ is simply a saying which means that inquisitve domestic cats take risks and often survive those risks because …
Witchcraft is the origin of the long held belief in many countries and cultures that black cats bring bad luck if they cross your path. Confusingly the opposite belief – that they bring good luck – is also a superstition in some places. It started in Europe in the Middle Ages and during three …
This phrase means no room to swing a cat-o’-nine-tails, the whip used to punish British sailors and soldiers from the 17th century until it was outlawed in 1881. The cramped quarters below deck on ship prevented the use of this long whip and so the punishment had to be carried out above the lower …
The words in the title were said by Sir Kingsley Amis (1922-1995). Sir Kingsley Amis was an English novelist, poet, critic and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels and six volumes of poetry and a lot more besides. Also, he was a cat lover. He associated gentleness in people who are the guardians …
There is an important difference between the meaning of the word ‘ailurophobe’ and the phrase ‘cat hater’. Some people believe that they are interchangeable. Strictly speaking this is incorrect. True ailurophobes (such a Napoleon) have a cat phobia – a deep seated fear of cats (ailurophobia). They may learn to hate cats as a …
It means that a person has little or no chance of success in what he/she is about do. It is an abbreviation of the phrase ‘no more chance than a cat in hell without claws’. The two key parts of this earlier version of the phrase are ‘hell’ and ‘without claws’. Hell signifies a …
The link is the promiscuous nature of the female urban cat when in heat. You have probably made the association between the words “cathouse” and “pussy”. If you haven’t, this is it. ‘Cathouse’ is a slang word to describe a brothel. It’s been used like that for several centuries because prostitutes have been called …
The belief that a domestic cat could suck the breath out of a baby probably stemmed from a combination of factors: Cats were considered to be witches’ familiars, companions to witches, at the time when people believed in witchcraft. Some people still do. At the time that people believed that cats could suck the …
