Words with Webster: Remember, Plus Friendly Fill-Ins

We have two fun Friday features for you today. First up is Real Cat Webster, who has a memorable cat word to share. After that, it’s on to Friendly Fill-Ins!

Words with Webster

 Hi, all! It’s me, Real Cat Webster. Welcome to Words with Me. Our word this week is “remember” (something Mommy doesn’t do so good anymore). To start learning about this word, first I went to my favorite dictionary (Merriam-Webster’s), which said that to remember is “to have (a notion or idea) come into the mind again as previously perceived, known, or felt : have a renewed apprehension of : bring to mind again : think of again.”

Boy, sometimes it takes a lot of words to say what one very common word means, doesn’t it?

Next I went to the Oxford English Dictionary, where I learned that “remember” has been around in English for a long time—since at least around 1350, when it made its first known appearance in print. I also learned that “remember” has a whole bunch of different meanings that are all sort of the same but just a little bit different. I won’t tell you all of them, but the first one in the OED is “to recollect; to think about, reflect on … (a) with reflexive pronoun and ‘of’ or ‘on.’” Like this:

Remembre yow vp on the pacient Iob. (ca. 1390-1405, Chaucer, Melibeus)

I guess that means something like “Think about the patient Job” (but then, with Chaucer it’s always kind of hard to tell). Anyway, I thought we should skip a whole bunch of stuff like this and get to the meaning we all remember (that’s a joke!). Here’s an example of that, from the 15th century:

Euer I shal remembre the grace whiche thou hast done to me. (1484, William Caxton tr. The subtyl historyes and fables of Esope, of Auyan, Alfonse, and Poge, i. xviii)

Next, I went to the Online Etymology Dictionary and found out that English got “remember” from Old French (remembrer), which got it from Latin (rememorari, “recall to mind"). So I guess people have been remembering things for a really long time!


You have probably been wondering all this time why I am even doing this word, because it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with cats, right? Well, I am doing it because next Thursday is Remember Me Thursday, a special day set aside to remember the rescue pets who’ve touched your life, and all those who are still waiting for their forever homes, and most importantly, those who, sadly, never got rescued.

We are telling you all about "remember" to help you remember cats like this one,
who are in shelters and desperately want to find a forever home.
Photo by Robert Hoetink, via Adobe Stock.

I’m a rescue! My family rescued me from being sent to a shelter when their neighbors didn’t want me anymore. Can you believe someone didn’t want me? Crazy, right? Just think of all the great cats who are just as friendly and handsome and smart as I am, only they’re stuck in shelters without a special person to love them, and a lot of them will die in the shelter. It’s sad and upsetting, right? That’s why we have to do something. So we encourage everyone to get ready to use today’s word and Remember the Rescue on Thursday, September 28, 2017!

Use #RememberTheRescue and #RememberMeThursday on social media. And don’t forget to enter the photo contest. Just share a pic of your rescue pet on Twitter or Instagram with #RememberTheRescue and #RememberMeThursday, and you could win a prize package for the pet rescue of your choice.

Friendly Fill-Ins

And now it’s time for Friendly Fill-Ins, from 15andmeowing and McGuffy’s Reader. They are a fun way to learn a little bit about the authors of the blogs you read. The first two questions, answered by Old SoLT this week, are from Ellen of 15andmeowing, and the next two, answered by Real Cat Paisley, are from Annie of McGuffy’s Reader.

Old SoLT's answers:

1. I would never be friends with someone who doesn’t like animals, specifically cats. Seriously, I’ve tried being friends with people who don’t like cats, and it just doesn’t work out, because those people almost always turn out to be jerks.

2. I will never refuse to help someone when I can.

Real Cat Paisley's answers:

3. I have never been to Timbuktu, but I don’t care because I’m happy in my home. I wish I could have a catio though.

4. When it comes to dogs, I just say NO.