Words with Webster: Words for Groups of Wild Cats, plus Friendly Fill-Ins

We have two fun Friday features for you today. First up, Real Cat Webster introduces some new (old) words for our big-cat cousins. And then it’s on to Friendly Fill-Ins.

 

Words with Webster

Last week, we talked about clowder, a term for a group of cats—a collective noun, in other words. Another collective noun for cats is glaring. Today, I thought it would be fun to learn collective nouns for some of our wild cousins. Good luck finding most of these definitions in your dictionary. They were apparently dreamed up in the 15th century, when hunters really liked to have specific terms for, well, everything. But according to Oxford Dictionaries, some of these terms may not have actually been used; they were just for fun.

Image credit: Adobe Stock.

Anyway, here we go:

A coalition of cheetahs.
A leap or lepe of leopards.*
A pride or sawt of lions.
An ambush or streak of tigers.

*We actually found this one in the Oxford English Dictionary, which says leap is an “alleged” name for a group of leopards. The word did appear in The Book of St. Albans in 1486: “A Lepe of Lebardis.”

(Sources: “What Do You Call a Group of…?” Oxford Living Dictionaries; Oxford English Dictionary; “List of English Terms of Venery, by Animal,” Wikipedia; “What Is a Group of Cheetahs Called?” Reference.com.)

Friendly Fill-Ins

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

Old SoLT’s answers
1. I hope Who Do You Think You Are gets renewed for another season. I enjoy seeing people learn about their origins. It makes me wish I had more time to work on family history though.

2. My first crush was on my seventh-grade math teacher. I also loved math for exactly one school year!

Real Cat Paisley’s answers
3. Our family’s dog usually makes me irritated. Because dogs are irritating.

4. If I were a super-hero, I would be… Hang on, I’m already a superhero! I’m Tortie Troublemaker!

The Chinese Li Hua or Dragon Li Cat

  

A Li Hua cat. The Li Hua is native to China. It sports a brown tabby
coat and has a strong build. These cats are known as excellent
rat catchers. They are also intelligent and mild-mannered.
Photo credit:English Wikipedia user Definitive1 [GFDL],
via Wikimedia Commons.

Just the name of this cat breed— Chinese Li Hua (pronounced lee-wah), Dragon Li, or Fox Flower Cat—brings up images of exotic and mysterious Eastern locales. Though the Li Hua is rare outside of China and was only admitted to the miscellaneous show class by the Cat Fanciers’ Association in 2010, it is an ancient breed that is well known and revered in its native land.

Affectionate  and strong

The Chinese Li Hua is a medium-sized cat with a brown mackerel-tabby coat. These cats are muscular, with a strong body and wide chest. They have large, almond-shaped eyes that can be green, brown, or yellow, and their ears are distinctively tipped. The Li Hua is known for being affectionate, intelligent, and mild-mannered. It is said that one of these cats learned to fetch the paper for his person. They are also renowned for their rodent-catching abilities.

An ancient, natural breed with a place in folklore

A Chinese mountain cat (F. s. bieti).

Li Huas are thought to be descended

from these wildcats native to China.

Photo credit: 西宁野生动物园

[CC BY-SA 3.0],

via Wikimedia Commons.

The Li Hua is considered a natural breed—that is, a breed that has arisen without human help. It is thought that these cats are descended from the local Chinese mountain cat (Felis silvestris bieti). This is a theory that has been repeated often, but so far as we know, it has not been proven—or disproven. DNA testing could shed light on this breed’s origins (not to mention the larger question of cat domestication), and we hope to hear of some in the near future.

Whatever their exact origins, the Li Hua has shown up in Chinese folklore for centuries. In one story, cats ruled the world and could even speak, but they decided they’d get a better deal if they turned all the responsibility (and talking) over to humans. With the humans doing all the work of keeping the world in order, the cats could, you know, sleep a lot.

These cats continue to hold a special place in the lives of their people. In China, owners of Li Huas are even known to hold wedding ceremonies for their cats.

The Li Hua is accepted as a breed worth showing

Despite that fact that they’ve been around for centuries, it was only in 2003 that the Li Hua was recognized as an experimental breed by the Cat Aficionado Association in China. In 2010, two of these cats were brought to the United States to be presented to the Cat Fanciers’ Association, which decided that the Li Hua could be shown in the miscellaneous class. They were first shown in Dallas, Texas. One of these cats, Lihua China Zhong Guo (“China” for short), went on to appear at many cat shows, letting more people in America learn about the breed.

As of 2013 (the most recent number we could find), there were only six Li Huas in the United States, so the breed does not seem to be catching on like wildfire, though that may change as more people recognize the Dragon Li’s temperament and nobility.

Sources

“Dragon Li.” Wikipedia.

Pickeral, Tamsin. The Elegance of the Cat: An Illustrated History. Hauppage, NY: Barron’s, 2013.

“Rare Chinese Cat Coming to Weekend Show Here.” San Diego Union-Tribune. January 21, 2011.

VetStreet.com: http://www.vetstreet.com/cats/li-hua#overview

Cat of the Week: Loretta in Baltimore

Each week in this space, we feature a senior cat in need of adoption or sponsorship. Please remember all the older cats in shelters. They make great companions, and unlike kittens, they (probably) won’t climb the curtains! Adopt a senior cat, and help him or her enjoy the best years of their life.

Today we’re introducing Loretta, a black-and-white kitty who is very sweet and has such lovely whiskers! Loretta is 9 years old, and she loves to spend time with her special someone. We understand she is also pretty smart. Imagine how much fun you and Loretta can have together, learning new things or just sitting and snuggling. Plus, she is already dressed for any formal occasion.

Wouldn’t it be great to give Loretta the loving home she’s looking for? Learn more about her here.

Can’t adopt? You can still help! Check out Sammy’s Cat Necessities Fund, which provides money for everyday and medical needs of cats at the Baltimore Humane Society. You can also make a general donation or sponsor a particular animal on this page. Every little bit helps!

Book Review: Angel Catbird: To Castle Catula

We recently got to read the second volume of the Angel Catbird comic series, written by none other than Margaret Atwood and illustrated by Johnnie Christmas, with colors by Tamra Bonvillain, and we’re pleased to report that we enjoyed this one even more than the first volume.

It’s cats versus rats, basically

This series is the story of Strig Feleedus, a genetic engineer who, in the kind of accident that only happens in comics, was transformed into a cat-bird-man called Angel Catbird (see volume 1 for details). The villain of the story is Professor Muroid, a really ratty guy who has an evil plan to have rats take over the world.

Angel has an…interesting assortment of friends, from half-cats to Count Catula (bat-cat-vampire, obviously).  We meet up with them as they are on their way to Castle Catula, from where they can safely plan to destroy Muroid. Of course, nothing is that simple, as Muroid is busy hatching up an evil plot that involves getting his paws on Angel’s love interest, Cate. On their journey, our heroes are joined by Atheen-Owl (direct descendant of Athena—you know, the goddess), Mummycat (a cat mummy, of course), and Catullus (poetic cat of, um, questionable talent), among others. There is even some history mixed in with the main story, and you know how we love the history here.

A battle ensues when Muroid unleashes his secret weapon, which turns out to be the most wicked cat toy ever, designed to be irresistible to Angel Catbird. Will Angel be lured to his doom? Once again, the story leaves us hanging in anticipation of the next volume, which we eagerly look forward to.

Our verdict

Graphic novels are not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you have even a passing interest in them, we encourage you to check out the Angel Catbird series. We are enjoying the story (thorough suspension of disbelief is required!), and we love the bold, colorful art. We also enjoy the sketchbook in the back that shows the artwork in progress from initial thumbnails to final drawings. Also included in volume 2…a drawing by Margaret Atwood herself. It’s from when she was six or seven, and it features an angel (we think) and cats with wings. “The deep origins of Angel Catbird,” the caption says. Priceless!

Recommended!

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good read; two paws is for a great read. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the book through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Sunday Selfie: Telling Secrets

We're joining the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by our friends over at The Cat on My Head (and we hope their sickretary is starting to feel better!). This week the Real Cats had some alone time (well, you know, "alone" expect for old SoLT showing up with a camera), and Webster took the opportunity to whisper a secret to Paisley. At least that's what it looks like here:

Caturday Art: Paisley Gets Kandinskyfied

We're joining Athena's Caturday Art blog hop today, with this piece that is one of our new favorites:

Old SoLT did this in basically two steps. She took the original photo of Real Cat Paisley into LunaPic and applied the Kandinsky art effect, and then it was over to PicMonkey for the frame. Easy peasy, but OMC, those eyes!

Here's the original (and yes, this is the same photo from last week):

Words with Webster (Clowder) and Friendly Fill-Ins

We have two fun Friday features today. First up, Webster will tell you all about clowders. Then we’ll do some Friendly Fill-Ins.

Words with Webster

Hello, friends! Most of you probably know that one word for a group of cats is “clowder.” But where does that word come from?

Well, Mommy helped me look up clowder in the Oxford English Dictionary (we had to get out her library card), and we found out our word doesn’t even get its own entry there. Instead, it’s listed as a form of “cludder,” which is “a crowd, heap, cluster.” And that word is a variant of “clutter.”

That's when I got kind of confused, because I always thought clutter meant something that's disorganized. Then Mommy reminded me that a whole bunch of cats can get very disorganized. So I guess it's okay.

But back to “clowder.” The OED lists 1801 as the earliest known usage of “a clowder of cats.” The word appeared in a book called The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, by Joseph Strutt (by the way, that book is also called Glig-gamena Angel-ðeod, if you want to be really authentic). Why a clowder of cats appeared in this book, I can only imagine.

Friendly Fill-Ins

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

Old SoLT’s answers

1. My favorite herb or spice is—Ooh, it’s too hard to pick just one. Thyme and cinnamon are favorites, and I also like paprika. Then there’s mixes of spices—chili powder and curry powder get a lot of use in my kitchen!

2. An herb or spice I dislike is…well, I’m sure there is at least one, but right now I can’t think of any.

Real Cat Paisley’s answers

3. Lately, I have been working on finding new ways to scare the dog. The possibilities seem endless!

4. This Winter was weird. We have not had any of that white stuff that falls from the sky, and the people keep complaining about “seesawing temperatures,” whatever that means.