Road Cat’s Eyes

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette. A friend of mine emailed me the other day and said, I saw this bizarre metaphor in a restaurant review. What in the world is this?

The writer was describing a porterhouse steak and said that in terms of quality, this steak, quote, could not have been more middle of the road than if it was glued to a cat’s eye.

Eh? Oh, a marble.

That’s what I said.

A marble? Cat’s eye marble?

Why would it be in the middle of a road?

Is that the name of the ring where you shoot marbles?

That’s a very good thing.

I don’t know.

Terrible theory.

I had no idea.

I mean, I was picturing a poor cat, you know.

Wait, more middle of the road than a cat?

Than if it were glued to a cat’s eye.

Okay, what is it?

Think of the middle of the road, you know, those little disks that are reflective.

Oh, that’s what those are called?

They’re called cat’s eyes.

Isn’t that great?

They were invented in the 1930s by one Percy Shaw of West Yorkshire.

So if you’re talking about something that’s glued to a cat’s eye, that’s perfectly middle of the road.

That’s outstanding.

Right.

But how would you know that unless you worked in the business, right?

I don’t know.

She read it in the Myanmar Times.

That’s nice.

Wait, so we use it in this country?

It’s used for sure in Britain.

And, yeah, there are lots of different words for those things.

So the reflective things in the middle of the road are called cat’s eyes.

Perfect.

Makes great sense.

I know.

Now it does.

Thank goodness for the internet.

Thank you, internet.

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