Tim and Allison Moyer of Ingram, Texas, care for lots of feral cats in their neighborhood, and refer to them by various names. Often they eventually shorten those names to just initial letters. For example, Calico Kitty becomes simply CK. Is there a...
Felines have inspired some picturesque terms. In parts of the Midwestern United States, the term cat beer can mean “milk.” The term cat hair is sometimes used as a synonym for “money,” and cat ice is “thin ice.” Cat face refers to the mark on a...
Nancy in Panama City Beach, Florida, remembers that as a girl, whenever she asked why her mother was looking at her, her mother would respond, “Well, can’t the cat look at the queen?” This phrase goes all the way back to the mid-16th century. A 1652...
In our online discussion about the variety of things we call our pets, one woman shares how her pet’s name went from Lucy to Queen of the Universe. Sounds like a perfectly natural progression to us! This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Cartoonist Sarah Anderson has a very funny take on the multiplicity of names we give our cats. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Sarah Anderson’s Take on Cat Names” We were talking earlier about the multiplicity of names that we...
Debra in Gates, North Carolina, says that her husband tries to do things right the first time because, as he puts it, he doesn’t like licking the cat over. To have to lick the cat over is to have to repeat a laborious process for a second time. It’s...

