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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...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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old hand
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old hand
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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".
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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 Good One!
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Unless you're going for the play on words…
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The children's books genre?
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old hand
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old hand
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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
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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cure for the effect (i.e., used externally) or for the condition (internally) ??
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Joined: Aug 2000
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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They are certainly used in Britain - for both senses.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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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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