BS: what did you name your cat

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Dec 17 - 03:01 PM

My first cat 70 yrs ago, was a stray, and my younger brother, 3 yrs old, insisted it be "Mickey"... because he liked Mickey Mouse. It was too hard to explain why a cat named for a mouse was odd, so we shrugged.

My ex wife had a male Siamese that she called "Mr. Magoo" after the cartoon character with the poor vision. Magoo would walk majestically along the porch rail.... and miss his footing and fall in the bushes... then complain loudly that he was pushed... ? He was a classic 'get up a tree and yowl to be rescued' cat... even a small, low tree.

I suppose my favorite cat was the one that may have ensured that my wife had 38 years ago. When we were first acquainted, her cat, "Princess" jumped in my lap and settled down. Rita said, "Princess never does that with a stranger!" We have joked for years that that was the 'stamp of approval' I needed.... Since we've been married 37 years now, I do respect a cat's judgement.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Raggytash
Date: 25 Dec 17 - 06:52 AM

Nothing wrong with calling a cat Mickey Bill. I have one called Mickey ................ his Mother is called Mouse!!

I swear I am telling the truth. She was just a year old when she had kittens (didn't take her to the Vet soon enough) and one of the kittens was VERY timid and he only person he could relate to was myself so I kept him. He's still very timid but I love him to bits.

I named her Mouse because it seemed like a good idea at the time. She's beautiful too, a long haired Tabby.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 25 Dec 17 - 08:57 AM

One of them came ready named as Dylan, so we call him Dilly.

And the younger one is called Piper after this young character. Not perhaps the wisest selection of a role model...

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Dec 17 - 01:09 PM

Thanks, Raggytash,
I had been wondering what the name of the cat who only relates to you was called.

Mickey has canine associations for me, re childhood pets.
However Mickey was the most companionable mixed hound in the world
and the name will always seem affectionate to me.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Jackaroodave
Date: 25 Dec 17 - 02:01 PM

Like Christopher "Kit" Smart, I considered my cat Jeoffry, for he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 25 Dec 17 - 02:42 PM

I had a sealpoint Siamese stray that came with the name Tractor -- probably because when he purred, it sounded like someone plowing the back 40. And Orphan Annie, and Little Tiny White Cat With No Name, Beardsley, and Schnuffles.

Then there was Foolish & Marmalade (litter mates), Peppersass, Blackstone, Calliope, Inquiry, Banjo & Creamsicle (litter mates), and Sabine.

Currently have Rufus (11 years old) and Hunter (8 years old) but who's only been with us since March.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: CupOfTea
Date: 27 Dec 17 - 12:46 PM

Had only one cat, and she was really my husband's delight, but she outlived him by quite a few years. We had been riffing on the speech of a character in CS Lewis' Narnia world, the Marshwiggle. Every thing was "this-wiggle" or "that-wiggle," and the anonomyous puddy who was a frozen New Year's Eve rescue was "Puddywiggle!" very soon. This morphed into Peawig, which she remained, a tortie with seagreen eyes and ombre whiskers. She also remained partial to men, and would pick a man's lap over a woman's if she had the choice. Phil Cooper can attest to this.

Joanne in Cleveland in inter-cattium

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: fat B****rd
Date: 27 Dec 17 - 05:14 PM

Yesterday I renamed my little tortoiseshell "Yaliltwat" as she had crapped in my shoe.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Raggytash
Date: 28 Dec 17 - 06:40 AM

Lovely article in today Guardian about cats in Turkey.


Pampered Cats

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: mayomick
Date: 28 Dec 17 - 09:40 AM

locksmith

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Dec 17 - 10:10 AM

Hi, keberoxu -- Watson and Isobel are in fine fettle, now that the tradesmen have ceased to trample through their little feof. They spent Christmas sitting on laps, even the laps of my brother (a cat person) and sister-in-law (not a cat person), and show unmistakable signs of comfort and joy.

The tiler is coming in January to fix the kitchen floor and install the backsplash. One of his primary tools is a diamond-bit power saw for splitting tiles; it makes a curious shrieking sound that must be heard to be believed. I don't know what the cats will say about that, but I'm fairly sure it won't be Parliamentary.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Charmion
Date: 31 Dec 17 - 12:53 PM

Bump. This thread is worth sustaining, in my admittedly arrogant opinion.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: keberoxu
Date: 01 Jan 18 - 11:06 AM

Charmion, your ringing endorsement is happily acknowledged.
When your cats feel at home in your new home,
that is indeed a healthy sign.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Senoufou
Date: 01 Jan 18 - 12:42 PM

Our two horrors Smokey and Murphy have spent the holiday period gorging on large amounts of turkey and today a dish of finely-chopped roast chicken each. Like my husband, they now have pot bellies and can hardly walk.
We relented towards that white beast Spirit and left some chicken out on the front step for him. I watched him wolf it down from our sitting room window. I hope he doesn't get the idea he can start coming back to cause trouble round ours. Ronnie, his sidekick, is infatuated with their new, second dog called Marnie, and we hardly see him these days. Apparently, he's fallen in love an sleeps curled up beside him!

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: keberoxu
Date: 01 Jan 18 - 01:27 PM

Eliza, it is grand to have you back in the BS section,
along with the four-footed so-called horrors.

What is going on with Logie? (likes cats, doesn't he?)

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Senoufou
Date: 01 Jan 18 - 01:57 PM

Hello there keberoxu! I'm only posting on what I would call 'safe' threads, to avoid all the arguments.

Logie went past the house this morning with his new housemate, the spaniel pup Molly (whom he loves and plays with incessantly) His owners and the two dogs were covered in mud, as were Harry, Marnie and the children from up the road. I always think it's glorious to be covered in mud after a lovely scramble through the fields!

I reckon we're all a bit tired of chicken here by now. My husband sings out his magic word, "Cheeeken!" but the reaction is a bit lacklustre.
No singing with joy, but a sort of silent sigh of resignation. They're utterly spoiled!

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Jan 18 - 10:38 AM

Hi, Eliza! I'm so glad you're back.

Our two come to the table to howl for whatever we're eating, even if it's only bread and cheese. This behaviour is completely political, however. Himself incontinently gives in to the barrage of meowing and frequently flings them a bit of steak or chicken, but they usually poke at it and walk away, mission accomplished. Then, after a few minutes, they're clawing at our knees and tuning up all over again.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Raggytash
Date: 02 Jan 18 - 11:56 AM

Just one small correction Senoufou. Cats don't have owners, cats have staff.

I know my place !!

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Senoufou
Date: 02 Jan 18 - 04:10 PM

I think our cats actually have 'slaves' Raggytash! My husband is particularly enslaved, and acts on their every whim. Even as I type, he's in the utility room mucking out their litter tray, and since they are evidently tired of chicken, I see he's opened a tin of tuna for them.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Raggytash
Date: 02 Jan 18 - 05:06 PM

Sounds about right. My two have me very well trained!!

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Jan 18 - 06:42 PM

By the way, Bill D,
I think Magoo is an ideal name for a klutzy cat.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Jan 18 - 01:00 PM

The last two we'll likely have are the present employees, who patrol the laundry/mudroom entry-- a prime entry point for annual persistent barn rats and field mice. These are in no way pets, but they did need names WE use to refer to them-- the cats themselves don't know these names and have no interest in laps.

The elderly female was named Othercat when she joined the crew then on duty because, "No, not that one-- the Other Cat."

Her partner (who she barely tolerates) is a young and miniscule adult tom recently insisting on placement, we've dubbed him Applicant, because if we're still in this house when Othercat passes, his mousing skills may earn him the prime job.

At present, only Othercat is granted the indoor role warmed by the gas wall heater. Applicant is young and active enough to reside in the barn with the cows, preferring that to the basement furnace where his water supply is kept unfrozen; his patrol zone is porch and approach pathways plus basement. He's the only employee we've ever seen stalking (after almost 25 years here) from above in a tree--clever boy. He has another snug and easily defended spot he likes for warmer weather.

We feed them both enough Barn Cat daily to retain their interest in remaining on staff. We doctor them when they need it enough to let us. Marauding ferals routinely adopt our landlord's auld barn but we're picky about which we feed and let nature take its course with the ferals; in our younger years, we did a lot of trap/neuter/release-- but younger folks will have to take that up now.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: JHW
Date: 28 Jun 18 - 01:53 PM

East Rounton (N.Yorks UK) farm shop had a cat in the veg outhouse, proper brown and black stripey cat, always happy to say hello and advise. Not there last week. Alas puss at about 18yrs is no more. I asked what she was called. Peugeot, as she'd been found as a kitten in an old Peugeot car. Didn't think to ask if they spelled it Purrgeot.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Aug 18 - 04:12 PM

I didn't tell you folks about the name derived from Arabic.
There is a roundabout story about this name/word.

Many moons ago I took a class that introduced English speakers to the Arabic language. I retained sadly little from the class. We spent much time on that darned alphabet. Our lecturer kept us entertained with little anecdotes; he went to Ain Shams Heliopolis university in his native Egypt, where he studied English and French; then he ended up in the United States teaching his native language to English-speaking North Americans.

Our class was waiting for an order of textbooks, as the bookshop had fewer textbooks than there were students. Not surprisingly, our class included a few government/military types (my location then was not the Northeast but the Southwest US, where military bases are a very big deal). Discussing this glitch during class, one gentleman, a hot-tempered military fellow, impatiently demanded of our lecturer: "Well, when are those textbooks gonna get here?"

" ' Fil mish-mish!' " said our worthy lecturer.
And he calmly took chalk in hand, and sketched the beautiful Arabic script on the blackboard from right to left.

In vernacular conversation, this is a figure of speech much like
when the Spanish speakers say laughingly, " ' Mañana. ' "
You know, when you get the tongue-in-cheek response " ' Mañana, ' "
that the answer -- literally, 'to-morrow' -- in truth means, nobody knows when it will happen, and it may never get done.

Same deal with " ' Fil mish-mish. ' "
That word is a specific cash crop. And when an Egypt native says " ' fil mish-mish, ' " in answer to a 'when' question,
it means:
it shall come to pass when the crop currently ripening in the orchard
has been harvested and brought to the market for sale.

So,
why would anybody call their pet cat "mish-mish" ?
Because a "mish-mish," singular, is one 'apricot,'
and some cats are apricot-colored.

And no, I cannot tell you what two or more apricots are called in Arabic,
because that is farther than my introductory course went
-- plurals in Semitic languages go places that English never goes.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Raedwulf
Date: 03 Aug 18 - 12:56 PM

My neighbour has just acquired two black & white kittens. It doesn't take too much to work out why he named them Pen & Guin... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: olddude
Date: 03 Aug 18 - 02:26 PM

Shitty kitty was my friends long hair cat as he always had to bath it

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: KarenH
Date: 03 Aug 18 - 02:38 PM

A young student relative named a cat 'Dinner'.

This was because they found it amusing to say loudly in the supermarket 'Must get some cat food for Dinner!'

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Thompson
Date: 03 Aug 18 - 05:16 PM

I like Mish-Mish.

I had a smoky grey kitten we called Ganja; unfortunately he didn't survive long enough to go the deep black that grey kittens normally go.

A friend had a Minou-Minou, which is the French equivalent of pshh-whshh-puss-puss.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: David W
Date: 05 Aug 18 - 12:04 AM

Haven't had a cat for a few years now, had many in the past. The very last one I had was called Catty McCat

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Jos
Date: 05 Aug 18 - 05:26 AM

I used to know a cat called John. A perfect name, I thought.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Aug 18 - 11:42 AM

I've been thinking that Caligula might be the perfect name for the next cat. Depending, of course, on its general temperament.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Raggytash
Date: 05 Aug 18 - 12:37 PM

My son and his partner have acquired a cat they call Heidi.

For the first week they had it, it was either under the kitchen cupboards or up the chimney!

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 05 Aug 18 - 03:21 PM

Cooking Fat.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Charmion
Date: 05 Aug 18 - 05:21 PM

My parents had a cat they named Houdini because she always managed to be on the front step of the house when they came home, although they always carefully made sure she was in before they locked up and left. Mine you, it was a rickety old house; presumably she was wriggling out by the same route the rats used to get in.

Subject: RE: BS: what did you name your cat
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 05 Aug 18 - 06:02 PM

I thought I'd mentioned it before but don't spot it. On the naming of black and white kittens, we had Port and Starboard. They had a white spot by their noses on different sides.