A Pair of Cat's Names

On May 4, 5:31 pm, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:
snipped'
Oh, I think we all "understand" your point - it's just that we a) consider
it trivial and b) disagree with it!

What a rude post.
I don't consider it trivial at all.

That's not to say most of us here do not! (Can't you find
more important issues to crusade about?)
snipped

That's really rude, Evelyn. For one thing, Christina is not
"crusading." You may have
missed it, but her post was followed by three letters... "IMO". Which
means,
that is simply her opinion. You may think it trivial, and *you* may
consider her
in the minority (I am not sure who is included in your use of the
pronoun "we"...but
you are not speaking for the entire group).
But it makes her opinion no less valid than yours, and she is entitled
to post it.

Sherry

wrote:

For that reason, if someone I didn't know were to name their cat, say,
"Sh*thead", I would be alert to potential animal abuse or neglect, as such
a name *might* (I emphasize "might", because it might not) indicate a
nasty attitude toward the cat. I would be far more concerned about that
than about the name itself.

OK, I've stayed out of this thread for a long time. Most of our cats
have simply TOLD us what their names are.

But I confess, we named not one but TWO cats "Sh*thead". Sh*theadOne and
Sh*theadTwo.

They were kittens dumped at the end of our road that we captured,
fostered and found homes for. We knew we couldn't keep them (our cat
count at that point was, I think, 11. Or maybe 12. Plus 3 dogs.
And the finches.)

And they were, oh, about 10-12 weeks old. Perfect little hoolikittens.
And they lived in our bedroom.

Sh*thead just seeemed to FIT, and it kept us from getting attached.

Deborah
currently slave to Fearless Fosdick, Princess, Smokey, Jezebel, Cinder,
Miss Bitty Kitty Who Is Not Bitty Any Longer, Shane and Emma. And Molly
the d*g. And twin 3 year old grand-daughters.

On May 4, 11:45 pm, Tish wrote:
On May 5, 8:49 am, wrote:



For that reason, if someone I didn't know were to name their cat, say,
"Sh*thead", I would be alert to potential animal abuse or neglect, as such
a name *might* (I emphasize "might", because it might not) indicate a
nasty attitude toward the cat. I would be far more concerned about that
than about the name itself.

I guess what I'm saying is that just because something might *feel* wrong,
that doesn't mean it *is* wrong.

What a weird thread. But I like it.

Joyce

In that case you'd either be talking to a fan of "The Jerk" (where
Steve Martin had a dog called "****head") or me, where our late
lamented queen-o-the-household, Ted, rejoiced in being christened
exactly that name. We didn't name her, but neither did we feel it
necessary to change her name after she came to live with us.

My mother's heart-cat, Psnott, was chistened Snot-pott because of a
smudge on his nose that looked just like he needed to wipe it. We
adjusted the spelling to Psnott because he was an expert at the silent
"p"! (particularly later in life when his kidneys started to fail)

An acquaintance called his cat "pussy licker", which didn't do much
for me, but he got an enormous kick out of standing outside his worst-
house-in-best-street hovel yelling for her. "Puss" didn't mind one
bit and most of us who knew her called her by her abbreviated name.

My aunt almost got away with calling her Alsation (German Shepherd)
pup "wherdi", short for "where did he wee", but it mutated into
Wombles via a long series of intermediate names. His canine companion
was a very, very stout spaniel called "Supergirl", which emphasized
exactly how super she wasn't (she wasn't a good match for the
family).

Really, our current batch of Spock, Persephone (Queen of the
Underpants Gnomes) and Fox are really all very conventionally named by
comparison!

Tish

LOL, I like "Wherdi" :-)
I don't want to be misunderstood that I think pets ought to all have
traditional names. I like unusual, offbeat
names too. And I *have* been guilty of allowing children to name their
own pets, and my daughter could come
up with some doozies. Her first two kittens, she was about 3 or 4
years old, and named them "Los Angeles"
and "Nashas". I suppose those were words she heard on TV and in her
little kid brain they sounded quite
regal and fitting for cats. (yeah, "Nashas" was prounounced an awful
lot like "nauseus."

Sherry

I had never heard the term John Thomas being used to mean penis, but I'm
in the US. Odd and unusual names are the norm over here...Our cat's name
is Woodgie, because my daughter (not a little kid, BTW)says that is what
you say when you tickle a kitten...So let's get over this one and change
the subject to weird pet names?
Kathy

On Sat, 5 May 2007 11:13:53 -0400, Kathy wrote:

I had never heard the term John Thomas being used to mean penis, but I'm
in the US. Odd and unusual names are the norm over here...Our cat's name
is Woodgie, because my daughter (not a little kid, BTW)says that is what
you say when you tickle a kitten...So let's get over this one and change
the subject to weird pet names?
Kathy

Ok, done.

I also call Ketzl (which, some people think, is a weird enough name. I don't)
"Pizza-Face" although he hasn't got one zit, never had and probably never
will. I think he thinks it relates to his quasi-Italian-Jewish heritage.

--
Joey DoWop Dee
Remember: It is To Laugh

On Sat, 05 May 2007 15:21:43 GMT, Ketzl's Dad
yodeled:

On Sat, 5 May 2007 11:13:53 -0400, Kathy wrote:

I had never heard the term John Thomas being used to mean penis, but I'm
in the US. Odd and unusual names are the norm over here...Our cat's name
is Woodgie, because my daughter (not a little kid, BTW)says that is what
you say when you tickle a kitten...So let's get over this one and change
the subject to weird pet names?
Kathy

Ok, done.

I also call Ketzl (which, some people think, is a weird enough name. I don't)

What could be more perfect for a kitty than Ketzl?



"Pizza-Face" although he hasn't got one zit, never had and probably never
will. I think he thinks it relates to his quasi-Italian-Jewish heritage.

Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh

Make Levees, Not War

On Sat, 5 May 2007 11:38:56 -0400, Kreisleriana wrote:

I also call Ketzl (which, some people think, is a weird enough name. I
don't)

What could be more perfect for a kitty than Ketzl?

Nothing, in my mind, but to a lot of folks it seems like an odd name until I
explain that it means kitty or kitten.

Some of the other "pet names" that emerge spontaneously with reference to
said feline might tend to be off-putting to some, which is maybe why I don't
use them all the time or when others are around (and I won't repeat any of
them here) but I think it's a cultural thing there, too.

Neapolitans (which I'm not) and southern Italians in general (of which I am
one) have a habit of calling people they're fond of nicknames that might
sound insulting... it's a way of letting someone know you love them. :-)

--
Joey DoWop Dee
Remember: It is To Laugh

Ketzl's Dad wrote:


It's probably a cultural thing. In the US it *vaguely* means penis, but it's
usually used jokingly, and frankly I don't see any reason to take it as
anything more than a joke. To think of it as demeaning to an animal is
somewhat absurd.

Exactly!

I guess it has to do with the level of self-consciousness one has about one's
body (or bodies in general) and sexual inuendo, which, in my mind, is almost
always taken harmlessly as a joke.

Taking the whole "controversy" as seriously as "Tweed"
appears to do certainly makes one wonder about her! (How
can ANYONE live with cats - or any non-human animal - and
retain such a prudish attitude?) It's true younger
generations take such things less seriously, and she may be
a "senior citizen" - but so am I (probably more "senior"
than she).

On Sat, 05 May 2007 15:55:03 +0000, Ketzl's Dad wrote:

On Sat, 5 May 2007 11:38:56 -0400, Kreisleriana wrote:

I also call Ketzl (which, some people think, is a weird enough name. I
don't)

What could be more perfect for a kitty than Ketzl?

Nothing, in my mind, but to a lot of folks it seems like an odd name until I
explain that it means kitty or kitten.

Some of the other "pet names" that emerge spontaneously with reference to
said feline might tend to be off-putting to some, which is maybe why I don't
use them all the time or when others are around (and I won't repeat any of
them here) but I think it's a cultural thing there, too.

Neapolitans (which I'm not) and southern Italians in general (of which I am
one) have a habit of calling people they're fond of nicknames that might
sound insulting... it's a way of letting someone know you love them. :-)


When I was a child, the neighbors across the street had a female blue cat
named Gee Whizz. I loved Gee Whizz. She was the mother of my first cat,
Frisky, that was my 10th birthday present. MLB

On Sat, 5 May 2007 13:58:01 -0400, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:



Ketzl's Dad wrote:


It's probably a cultural thing. In the US it *vaguely* means penis, but
it's
usually used jokingly, and frankly I don't see any reason to take it as
anything more than a joke. To think of it as demeaning to an animal is
somewhat absurd.

Exactly!

I guess it has to do with the level of self-consciousness one has about
one's
body (or bodies in general) and sexual inuendo, which, in my mind, is
almost
always taken harmlessly as a joke.

Taking the whole "controversy" as seriously as "Tweed"
appears to do certainly makes one wonder about her! (How
can ANYONE live with cats - or any non-human animal - and
retain such a prudish attitude?) It's true younger
generations take such things less seriously, and she may be
a "senior citizen" - but so am I (probably more "senior"
than she).


Ah, good point. So, likely, it may not only be cultural but generational as
well. (However, I'm a junion-senior citizen myself, 61-and-a-half, :-) and
I'll never cease laughing at absurdities, no matter what they pertain to.
I could imagine my long-departed Nonna laughing at the "John Thomas"
controversy as well.)

I have my ancestors to thank for that wonderful gift.

--
Joey DoWop Dee
Remember: It is To Laugh