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#129144 06/07/04 01:42 PM
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My family is fostering a 5-week-old kitten this week, and the adorable little thing got me thinking about the two uses for the word "litter" as it relates to the feline set. First, it refers to the set of kittens that the momma cat births: "Rum-Tum-Tugger was part of a litter of five kittens". Also, it is used to refer to the sandy/clayey material in which those kittens (even at the age of five weeks!) deposit their leavings (usually used in the compund form "kitty litter" or "cat litter").

Are those two terms used worldwide? And are they etymologically related?

I'll just sit here tending to my gnawed ankles until you respond...


#129145 06/07/04 02:49 PM
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Seems to be all the same word:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/34/L0203400.html




#129146 06/09/04 06:25 AM
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Quite apart from the cat connection: I often hesitate about spelling literature with double "t" - as is correct in French. And then I start to reflect on connections between litter and certain "literature".


#129147 06/09/04 02:05 PM
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Good One!


#129148 06/09/04 02:09 PM
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Unless you're going for the play on words…


#129149 06/09/04 02:25 PM
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The children's books genre?


#129150 06/10/04 12:41 AM
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Never being one to let a geological thread go past....

The "sandy/clayey material" to which you refer is attapulgite - a clay which, by benefit of its molecular / structural arrangement, has superlative water adsorption qualities. Not only handy for feline effluent, but a common curative for diarrhoea in humans.

stales


#129151 06/10/04 08:47 AM
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cure for the effect (i.e., used externally) or for the condition (internally) ??


#129152 06/10/04 08:48 AM
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They are certainly used in Britain - for both senses.


#129153 06/10/04 12:38 PM
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re:cure for the effect (i.e., used externally) or for the condition (internally) ??

having a senior moment Rhuby? i remember we had a discussion on kaolin:
Main Entry: ka·o·lin
Pronunciation: 'kA-&-l&n
Function: noun
Etymology: French kaolin, from Gaoling hill in China
: a fine usually white clay that is used in ceramics and refractories, as a filler or extender, and in medicine especially as an adsorbent in the treatment of diarrhea

the Kao (in kaopectate-- a common over the counter cure for diarrhea.) the other half Pectin, is an fruit gum, (commonest in apples). Pectin can be purchased in US grocery stores under the brand name 'Sure-Jel'. its used by home 'canners' to make sure their fruit jellies and Jams 'set up'

of course, stales confused the hell out the situation by using another name for kaolin --but his description, a clay that absorbs water, and is used as a medicine for diarrhea, fits kaolin!

maybe he can elaborate on all the differnt clay compound used this way..

(eating dirt, can sometimes be a pica-or sometimes a sound medical practice!)


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