A.Word.A.Day -- AWADmail Issue 1208

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AWADmail Issue 1208

A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and Language

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From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Cats

Our mailbox was overflowing with cats this week. Here’s the pick of the litter.

Please do not offer cream, milk, or any other dairy product to cats. Contrary to common belief, these items are not nutritious and can cause multiple problems. See here.
-Susan Grodsky, Potomac, Maryland (sjgrodsky yahoo.com)

My cat’s official name is Ravi Shankar kittar player... What’s special about him? Just look!
-Ivy Kaminsky, Pasadena, Texas (ivykaminsky yahoo.com)

Email of the Week -- Brought to you buy Johnny Mustard Yuk, Retired -- The Corps Has!

Yesterday (Aug 17) was Black Cat Appreciation Day. This is our blind kitty, Lucia. Her full name is Lucia Zotz. Zotz is the Maya word for “bat” because she reminds us of one. She and the rest of her litter were born under a utility shed at my former college, Greensboro College, in Greensboro, NC. They were all born without eyes -- except for one kitten, Phoebe, who has one eye. All the kittens had surgery to clean extraneous tissue from their eye sockets and stitch them up. All found forever homes. Their mother (who has eyes) was also captured and adopted.
Lucia has no clue that she has a disability. She navigates three houses (ours, our son’s, and his girlfriend’s mother’s) without any difficulty, unless we move something. She catches flies and eats them. We allow her in our fenced yard accompanied by us and closely watched. She knows when birds are flying overhead and stalks them. She holds her own with our other cat and two dogs.
-Christine Whittington, Leadville, Colorado (whittingtonca gmail.com)

This is my beloved Zuzi, the cutest and smartest kitty on the planet! 😀😋 Never understood how someone would not love cats!
-Denise Duma, Barcelona, Spain (deniseduma gmail.com)

When I was about 8 I had a black cat named Sniffy. The first pet of my own. I lived in St Petersburg, Florida near a swamp (now paved over). One night she came in the house very distressed. She had a baby alligator by the tail and it had her by the ear. She survived with a somewhat lacy ear. The alligator, despite my brother’s care, did not.
-Margaret Evans, St Petersburg, Florida (mandbevans earthlink.net)

In summer 2018, we brought home two kittens from the shelter: a yellow tiger boy, the type my husband had been hunting for, and his all-black sister we couldn’t leave behind. A bedroom was hastily kitten-proofed, ready for their arrival. Alice purred her way into our hearts, gentle and affectionate, while Pepper bounced through the room in a blur of teeth and paws. Quiet on the ride home, they quickly filled the house with chaos, cuddles, and charm.
-Sally Ann Hart, Rochester, New York (sahflute2 gmail.com)

My cat came and woke me up at night to insist I come with her to the kitchen to alert me that I’d left a stove burner on. Good girl!
-Barbara Arnstein, New York, New York (barnstein5 aol.com)

My long lost cat, Beetle, was very special. We found her one day when I brought my old Volkswagen Beetle to a mechanic -- it was -30C outside, and we were talking to the mechanic in his garage when this tiny orange kitty came out, saying “Ee ee eee.” We took her home and informed my father that we’d got a cat. Beetle (named after my car, of course) had super dandruffy hair, and was hyperallergenic. People who were not allergic to cats were allergic to Beetle. And people who were normally allergic couldn’t step into our house. My mother eventually got some special soap for her, and gave her baths, which she got used to. She also got used to being vacuumed, and grew to like it (it felt good, I guess). Beetle loved to eat, but wanted to be petted while eating. She would purr while eating and being petted. As with other orange cats, or so I’ve heard, she loved eating cantaloupe. She never learned to meow properly. It was always “Beep beep.” My sister wrote her name as “Beatle”, but no, she was never “working like a dog”. (video, 3 min.)
-Michael New, Ottawa, Canada (mike noozoo.com)

Cali and my dog Max were friends and slept together. Cali could go out at will and some mornings I would find mice or other game she had caught on the floor where they slept. I considered them gifts for me and never tried to stop her. When Max died the “gifts” stopped. They were for Max, not for me.
-Robert V Marrow, Rye, New York (robertmarrow gmail.com)

Our cat, Lofty (1991-2011), a very tall ginger tom, played endless tricks. His favourite one was climbing into our neighbours’ rose-covered arbour at her gate to wait there for the return of Bill, the milkman, from morning deliveries. The moment Bill passed beneath Lofty would reach through and pull off his cap! This happened frequently, causing Bill to hold onto his cap as he passed underneath. I must add that Lofty, gentleman cat that he was, would happily drop the hat if asked to do so.
-Mary Murphy, East Sussex, UK (mary.murphy29 btinternet.com)

Summer of 2001, when my future husband would pull out the camera (pre-smartphones!), hold it at arm’s length (fortunately his are long), and take our photo. We called these auto-photos. Here is an auto-photo of my beloved cat Philip and me. Isn’t he a treasure?! When it is a photo of a cat and me, I call it a gato-photo.
-Kelly Smith (and Philip), Houston, Texas (akellysmith icloud.com)

Some years ago I read a newspaper article reporting how a Japanese teacher divided her class of elementary school students into two groups, cat fanciers and dog lovers. She then encouraged them to not only speak up in favor of their assigned animal but also to answer the other side’s arguments, in order to encourage them to listen to rather than simply dismiss opposing views and accept disagreement as a positive part of learning. (I wish I could find that article but even Google has its limits.)
We should put our representatives in Congress through similar exercises. Who knows, some of them who seem to think their only job is to do what their leader tells them to do might learn to act like intelligent second-graders and think for themselves. It’s never too late to hope.
-Henry Willis, Los Angeles, California (hmw ssdslaw.com)

Our neighbor’s adopted cat hated her and loved us, so he eventually took over our lives. Had to ride on my shoulder every morning for some love while I made coffee.
-Tamara Krautkramer, Sonoma, California (tamarakk mac.com)

A business card holder with a portrait of cat Fizz

I made a pottery business card holder which is a sculpture of my late cat Fizz. As you can see, my own card has a drawing of a cat on it. “Ever since I was a little child I have thought cats the most beautiful and alluring of created beings. It has been in some ways a protection to me. I have never felt jealous of other women because they were more beautiful than I was, for almost any cat was far more beautiful than either me or them.... Without doubt cats are intellectuals who have been, by some mysterious decree of Providence, deprived of the comfort of the word.” (From Pounce, by Rebecca West.)
-Elizabeth Block, Toronto, Canada (elizabethblock netzero.net)

As a child we had a pair of Siamese cats, sisters Gin and Tonic. Though litter mates, they could not have been more different. Proof in a way that genes play at least as important of a role in personality as upbringing. Gin was larger and more athletic. She could run faster, jump higher, and catch mice and even flies. Tonic could do none of this. But she was more of an extrovert and a delicate little seductress. She was vocal and demanding, but also sweet and affectionate. At the dinner table she would climb up onto a radiator cover behind my dad meowing and slapping at him with her paw for bits of human food. Gin would wait patiently and quietly on the floor for her share.
Tonic would wake my dad up each morning demanding breakfast, and after being fed would come up to my room and wait patiently on the floor next to my bed for me to wake up and begin stirring. Then she would jump on the bed and walk up and down on me purring, then jump over to the spare bed in my room and curl up for a nap. That was our little morning ritual. She and Gin adored each other and would curl up together on an easy chair snuggling and bathing each other with their tongues before falling asleep. I would come upon them like that and pet them, and they would look up at me purring lovingly. They were a key part of a happy childhood.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

When a dog loves you, it’s being a dog. When a cat loves you, it’s a compliment.
-Liza Levy, Paris, Kentucky (sparkydoc3.14159 gmail.com)

After what I think is nearly 20 years of enjoying A.Word.A.Day, this week’s theme beckons me to finally write and send a photo of our international kitties.
We have lived overseas for much of the past 15 years, and during this time, we’ve gained two very well-traveled cats. Cleo (white and gray) is from Cairo, Egypt, and has traveled and lived in five continents. Kaio (calico) is from Manila, Philippines, and lived in “only” four continents.
We just returned to the US three days ago, and they may be headed for retirement from their “cattiwomple” lifestyle to rest in a leafy NJ suburb watching birds and finally being domestic. Here’s to global pussophilism everywhere! 😻
-Thao Tran, Maplewood, New Jersey (thaomt gmail.com)

Thank you for devoting an entire week to the pussophilists! My feline friends have been key to my joy over the years. I’ve written a book of cat tales, which just came out last month! The original intent was a collection of children’s stories, but the stories are truly fables for all ages. The Fabulous Adventures of Minnie the Wonder Cat.
-Linda Forrester, New York, New York (linforre aol.com)

I am a true lover of cats. Miss Bonnie Brengelcat has the sweetest personality ever. She loves the FURminator and ambushes anyone walking past the surface designated for its use.
-Jeneene Brengelman, Cincinnati, Ohio (jeneene1 me.com)

USAGE:
“Swinburne is a pussophilist, he has a passion for cats. He says he appreciates their nature, and that they understand him; also that he is certain that in some former state of existence he himself was a cat, and that hereafter he will probably return to his cat condition.” Frederick Locker Lampson; Unpublished Sketches and Poems; Scribner’s Magazine; 1921.
Frederick Lampson’s quote describes me and my sentiments toward cats to a tee. I’ve had the privilege to share space with a number of pusses throughout my entire life, and yes they are all special. Our current companions are two Bengal cats that never cease to impress and amaze with their talents and unique personalities. Chessie is a yoga master and water enthusiast, and Zander loves riding in a golf cart (they both do, actually). I suppose the humans who get to live with them are hopeless pussophilists, but they seem to love us, too. Would that make them pussphilanthropes?
-E.B. Elwell, Genoa, Nevada (srfrgrl1 earthlink.net)

My dog is, in fact, a pussophilist. None of these pictures are posed.

Why I can’t watch nature shows

They are definitely the prize at the end of the rainbow

-Nicole Crane, Guilford, Connecticut (nicole.crane gmail.com)

I once had Tiffany, a lithe sweet Siamese, who I believe had the IQ of a three-year-old. What put Tiffany in the Cat Hall of Fame was her finest moment that involved Q tips. I had come home from the store and there on the living room carpet were 13 Q-tips laid vertically (i.e. end to end) and not one out of place. I kept them in the upstairs bathroom in a high spill-proof container, so how did Tiffany manage to get thirteen downstairs? Only she knew.
-Janice Power, Cleveland, Ohio (powerjanice782 gmail.com)

This is Dr Livingston, sitting in my lap a couple of weeks ago. She just turned 10 in April.
-Allen T Coffey, Victoria, Texas (atcoffey gmail.com)

One winter we were on an RV camping trip with our two blond labs, Heidi and Hans. We were preparing to leave the campground for home, and called the dogs in. Uncharacteristically, Hans did not come when we called. Finally, my husband went looking for him. He was hanging out with a grey tabby cat and didn’t want to leave him. We did get Hans to follow us back to the Jeep, but only if the little cat would come, too! We found the manager and told her our dog had befriended the cat; she said the cat had been hanging around for a while, and she didn’t think it belonged to anyone, so we could take him home if we wanted. That’s how we adopted Lovey, Hans’s own kitty!
-Linda Decker, Twinsburg, Ohio (avatarld aol.com)

Proud philofelist here, though pussomaniac might be more precise. Besides being preternaturally sweet, my cat Indy is quite the champion. I found her 17 and a half years ago beneath the hood of an old Honda Civic and I’ve loved her dearly ever since. She adores dogs, the music of Sarah Vaughan and Chet Baker, and baguettes, and in her early years she could jump so high that she earned the name Indy Bird.
-Riza Freeman, Los Angeles, California (rizwatifreeman proton.me)

Dewey was the best cat! He lived and died in the Spencer, Iowa, library. What a charmer!
-Margaret Breuer, Sarasota, Florida (mabreuer0519 gmail.com)

Am I the only pussophile without a cat? The puss that I phile is Bagpuss, star of a wonderful children’s BBC series created by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate, and filmed in Mr. Firmin’s barn, making it literally a homemade production. The team made several similar series under the Smallfilms company, and all were filled with fun, folklore, and a childlike sense of wonder and true magic. Postgate, through his father, knew Bertrand Russell and apparently based one of the best-loved characters in Bagpuss (Professor Yaffle) on his mannerisms. Yaffle, by the way, is an English dialect word for woodpecker which the esteemed prof is -- a carved wooden bookend who, like all the other characters, comes to life when Bagpuss wakes up, because Bagpuss is magical of course! He is “the most magical... saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world. And Emily loved him.” Emily (the only human in the series) was Peter Firmin’s daughter.
-Michael Poxon, Norwich, UK (mikethestarman gmail.com)

Pussophilists should know about this album, Songs of the Cat, by Garrison Keillor and Frederica von Stade: a collection of 16 songs that purrfectly cover the range of cat behavior. Released in 1987, highly recommended.
-Nancy R Wilson, Petaluma, California (wilsonna sonic.net)

Throughout my childhood we had cats. When I had my own apartment in graduate school in 1969 I got a cat. Over the years, we’ve always had at least one, sometimes two or three. Then two months ago we had to put down our 12-year-old Smokey. For the first time in 56 years I don’t have a cat, and I definitely feel the lack. I’ll just have to get another.
-Juliane McAdam, Los Osos, California (juliane.mcadam gmail.com)

As you are featuring cats this week, I cannot let the opportunity pass for you to use your bully pulpit to help protect our dramatically declining populations of songbirds. Domestic cats are the single largest human-made threat to birds. You are always so clever in figuring out wonderful ways to gently peel the scales from our eyes, perhaps you can figure out a way to get cat lovers to keep their cats indoors. The cats are safer there, and the world will be a better place, which clearly is one of your priorities in addition to educating and entertaining us.
-Jane Ellison, Cleveland, Ohio (mynameisjanee yahoo.com)

From: Richard Plattner (rplattner plattner-verderame.com)
Subject: Catlap

In my family catlap means if the cat is on my lap, my wife has to fetch stuff for me I would otherwise have to get for myself. And I hasten to add it works the same for her.

Richard S. Plattner, Phoenix, Arizona

From: Rajnish Sapra (rajnishsapra gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--catlap

Given that the theme of the week is feline and today is Ogden Nash’s birthday, I’m reminded of his couplet which I sometimes think of when I see my kids growing up:

The trouble with a kitten is that
Eventually it becomes a cat!

Rajnish Sapra, Chandigarh, India

From: Peter Roche (sunmtnsft aol.com)
Subject: cats

Check out Mark Twain’s “A Cat-Tale” where he reads a bedtime story about cats to his two daughters and keeps using words that have cat in them in misleading ways (e.g. cater-cousin). I think it wasn’t published until the 1960s as part of the NYT bestseller Letters from the Earth (pdf).

Peter Roche, Santa Fe, New Mexico

From: Johannes Wiedersich (jowi tum.de)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--philofelist

For what it’s worth: The image included with this word does not show a philofelist, or lover of cats. At least if one’s definition of love includes some compassion for the other. No cat loves being carried around like that. 😉😇

Johannes Wiedersich, Garching, Germany

From: Gary Garnier (ggarnier yahoo.com)
Subject: Philofelist

Would the opposite be a misofelist? Also, by this example I think a dog lover would be a philocanist, but that doesn’t roll off the tongue like philofelist*.

*Not to be confused with falafelist, a line cook at a Middle-Eastern restaurant.

Gary Garnier, Los Gatos, California

From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com)
Subject: catnap and philofelist

Strange bedfellows? Not really. Interspecies relationships/bonds are quite common, even though we’ve held this bias that cats and dogs, like oil and water, just don’t mix. Here, while Fido is sawing Zzzs, our tabby’s midday reverie is sprinkled with a litany of “cat” words.

The ancient Egyptians had a pantheon of human/animal deities. Bastet, with the head of a cat and the body of a woman, was revered as a protector from contagious diseases and evil spirits. She was also associated with fertility, pregnancy and childbirth. For millennia, Egyptians have valued cats as expert vermin and snake killers.

Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California

Anagrams


	This week’s theme: A cat-alogue of words Pussophilist Catlap Philofelist Catnap Pussomaniac	=	Like a cute cat Taplash Felinophile Watch how a puss sleeps Dogmatist’s passion for cat opium
			-Julian Lofts, Auckland, New Zealand (jalofts xtra.co.nz)
=	Cat enthusiast Weak chai (tea) Similar focus, eh? Pop’s sleep (up at midnight) Pop also follows cats	=	He who supports a cat A chilled light umami tea A puss affection Stoop, sleep 40 winks Spoils a cat
	-Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com)		-Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com)

Make your own anagrams and animations.

Limericks

pussophilist

Tweety Bird, Warner Brothers’ canary,
Was of “bad putty tat” always wary.
No pussophilist, she.
She knew when she should flee
From Sylvester, more funny than scary.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

Pussophilists tend to prefer
The kind of a pet that can purr.
These folks won’t be found
Attached to a hound,
Since they like a cat, not a cur.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

A pussophilist lives quite near me.
What a cat lover! This guy has three!
And I’m happy to cat-sit
Until he says “That’s it.”
And then I go home happily!
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)

As an eminent leading pussophilist,
I’m the cat world’s belov’d MAGA columnist.
Compassion for birds
You won’t find in my words;
I’d deport every last ornithologist.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

catlap

Oh, give me a drink with some flavor,
For that is the sort that I savor.
No catlap for me;
I want a strong tea,
But really it’s coffee I favor.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

Can you really enjoy that stuff there?
There’s no taste to it! C’mon, let’s share
A pot of good coffee
And I’ve got some toffee --
That catlap pour any old where!
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)

Now Morris was known as a fat chap.
All day would the puss take a catnap.
His owner, named Sonny,
To save on his money,
Would water his cream for a catlap.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“We Persians will drink no mere catlap,”
Said Omar Khayyam to the satrap.
“Loaves of bread ‘neath the bough,
Jugs of wine, and then -- pow!
Life is good! Who needs teetotal claptrap?”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

philofelist

A philofelist once fed his pet
With falafel, the best one can get.
But his fussy cat said:
“Can’t you give me instead
Some pâté and a crunchy baguette?”
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

We heard the philofelist say,
“Today was the awfulest day!
Inspectors decried
The home I provide
And took all my kitties away!”
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

The words “Cat got your tongue?” are well known,
But I wonder - are felines so prone?
Do they silence you? How?
A philofelist now
Would make sure that I knew or got shown.
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)

My cat’s an attention monopolist,
For he knows I’m a hopeless philofelist.
On my keyboard he sits
Till I’ve lost all my wits,
So I can’t in this life be a novelist.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

catnap

When my cat jumps up onto my lap,
It’s not that she wants a brief nap.
Oh, no catnap for her.
She’ll just sit there and purr
To tell me she loves this poor sap.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

When watching exciting TV,
Completely absorbed I should be.
But a catnap I’ll take,
And then when I wake,
I won’t understand what I see.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

Oh, brother, I need rest so bad!
To make up for the night that I’ve had --
Been a flirtatious beast!
Let me catnap at least--
Took no time between girls -- I’m a cad!
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)

While taking a nice little catnap,
I dream of adventures quite madcap.
I fly jets! I save lives!
But my uncle arrives,
And he jars me awake with a backslap.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

pussomaniac

Education they say’s where it’s at,
And my friend is an expert at that.
He is both a true brainiac,
And a firm pussomaniac.
He speaks Latin and Greek to his cat.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

With a feline these folks are obsessed,
And their pet they give only the best.
Pussomaniacs are
Too indulgent by far,
Though their kitties remain unimpressed.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

I am one of them, sure, I confess;
A devout pussomaniac, yes.
I go head over heels
Letting out happy squeals
At the meows of my kitty, Sweet Bess.
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)

At the office they think I’m a brainiac,
But at home I’m a mere pussomaniac.
Felix, Garfield, and Tom!
Oh, Sylvester’s the bomb!
As are ducks! Daffy’s got such a zany quack!
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Puns

Though the temple was the magnum o-pussophilist-ines, Samson pulled it down.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

As a child, Jane loved the book Puss in Boots. But when she got older, she took Pussophilist of her favorites.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“For just one du-catlap dances are available from our beautiful girls,” said the strip club owner in medieval Venice.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

I like to wear my aunt’s antique catlap-el pin on my coat.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“This philofelist-oo dry,” complained the Middle Eastern food critic.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“When handling animal s-catnap-kins are advised,” said the wildlife biologist training manual.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Prince William would never wake his wife Catherine when she was sleeping. He would always let Catnap.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station , New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“I won first prize for my play about Oedi-pussomaniac-tors are eager to play the role,” said Sophocles.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

A writer -- and, I believe, generally all persons -- must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art. -Jorge Luis Borges, writer (24 Aug 1899-1986)

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