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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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My grandmother (from the South of Scotland) used to say much the same thing: "Who's she? The cat's mother?" Quinion has a note on the expression at http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-cat1.htmBingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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My Grandmother used the "cat's mother" phrase when I was a child - in the 1930s - and she was born right here in USA although she was of Irish descent.
We used Himself to mean my Father and Herself for my Mother, but not to his/her face!!
The Himself and Herself were later used to mean the "Top Dog" in any situation. I *once heard an employee of the company - of which my Dad was general manager - refer to my Dad as Himself.
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Joined: Mar 2001
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addict
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addict
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My mother (Polish but not from Poland) had the same aversion to using he or she when speaking of an older person - wasn't respectful enough, particularly for one's parents. Maybe a generational thing? Or do young(ish) people (ie, under 60  ) feel the same?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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My paternal grandmother of German descent (Alsace-Lorraine, so there's prolly some French & Italian in there, too) used to react the same way to those pronouns. "Who's she!?" she'd always emphatically correct. Even if we had indicated the person just previously, and especially if it was my Mom or someone of authority to a child.
us: "Mom said we could sat up late. And she said we could watch the movie, too."
Grandmom: "Who's she!"
This always left us pretty confused for an answer.
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Joined: Jun 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Thanks for putting up the Cat Stevens song, Juan. On the other side of the pond, I was listening to it on the radio as I drove north from Cork to Ennis.
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