The Real Cats: Webster in the house
Dear friends, today we are joined by Real Cat Webster, coming
to us from the comfort of his house to share some interesting information with
us. Webster, I understand you discovered something recently about a cat-related
word?
Webster: Hey,
Miss C. You won’t believe what I just found out. See, I was sitting here in my
new house the other day, just resting and thinking—you know how you do. And I heard
somebody say the word “kitty-corner,” and I thought, “Hey, why don’t I have one
of those?” I’d like a corner for kitties.
Miss C: Well, kitty-corner is not exactly a thing…
Webster: Yeah, I
know that now. It means “diagonal.” Did you know that?
Miss C: Of course
I knew that. I have an extensive classical education.
Webster: Then I
guess you also know what “kitty-corner” actually has to do with cats.
Miss C:
Everything has everything to do with cats, so obviously “kitty-corner” is
derived from cats’ penchant for sitting diagonally from one another...or something like that.
Webster: Wrong! I
got out our word histories book and looked up “kitty-corner,” and it told me to
look under “catercorner,” and when I did that, I found out it came from some
French word from medieval times. Quatre
was the word. It means “four,” and sometimes they spelled it “catre” or
“cater.” Then English people started using it to mean the four in dice, and
after that it meant “diagonal,” and then people started putting “corner” on the
end of it. They started spelling it all different ways, too: catercorner,
catty-corner, kitty-corner—even catawumpus.
Miss C: Humans
are so careless with their spelling.
 |
| "Kitty-corner" has something to do with dice and not cats? Impossible! |
Webster: Tell me
about it. And we’ve just done a
whole post that actually says nothing about cats.
Miss C: Not true.
Isn’t it obvious that people started saying “kitty-corner” because they thought
“catercorner” had something to with kitty cats? We have done nothing but talk
about cats this whole time.
Webster: You
think so?
Miss C: Trust me.
All human life is really about the cats.
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