Words with Webster: Cat Owl, Plus Friendly Fill-Ins

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

Words with Webster

Hi, everybody! It’s me, Real Cat Webster. Welcome to Words with Me. Today’s word is “cat owl.” I picked this word because I saw it in the dictionary and thought it was neat. Anyway, a cat owl is “an owl having ear tufts (as the great horned owl, long-eared owl, or screech owl),” according to my favorite dictionary, Merriam-Webster’s. The tufts make them look kind of like cats.

The Oxford English Dictionary has this 1854 quote from H. D. Thoreau:

An unmistakable cat-owl … with the most harsh and tremendous voice … responded. (Walden, 292)

I guess I’ve never done the word “cat,” but it’s been around since about ad 700 and ultimately comes from the Late Latin cattus. Mommy says we'll tell you more in another post sometime soon.

Does this eastern screech owl look
like a cat? We think it looks like Webster!
Photo via Adobe Stock.

As for “owl,” that comes to us from Old English ule, which is from Proto-Germanic uwwalon-. That is from the Proto-Indo-European root u(wa)l-, which is supposed to sound like the sound an owl makes. One of the Latin words for “owl” is ulula, another word that imitates an owl sound. (This is all according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.) Click here to see and hear an eastern screech owl calling.

What about his great horned owl ?
Photo via Adobe Stock.

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 Real Cat Paisley this week, are from Ellen of 15andmeowing, and the next two, answered by old SoLT, are from Annie of McGuffy’s Reader.

Real Cat Paisley’s answers:

1. Before you go to sleep, you need to take a bath by licking your whole body. Who wants to go to bed all dirty?

2. After you eat, you need to wash your face and whiskers, because it’s bad form to go around with cat food on your nose or somewhere.

Old SoLT’s answers:

3. Winter is my least-favorite season. I am ready for it to end.

4. Spring always makes me feel hopeful and energized. I love the warmer temps and longer days and seeing the flowers open. It’s also one of the happiest times to be in the Washington, DC area because the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin are beyond beautiful. The couple of times I’ve gone there in person have been amazing.

Cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin, with the Washington Monument in the background.
Photo via Adobe Stock.