"Catspeak" Defined

This post was first published Friday, May 7th, 2010.  In honor of CAT CHAT's first birthday taking place later this month and the fact that back on May 7th I barely had any visitors to my blog, I felt this one deserved another look! Enjoy!

"Catspeak" Defined

The other evening while having dinner my husband looked at me and said "Hey! I have an idea for your blog! Why don't you research how many words contain the prefix "cat"? To other people that would be a strange suggestion but you see my husband and I were originally brought together through our love of words both written and verbal so I decided to delve deeper into his suggestion.

When I first researched this topic I found there were THOUSANDS of words that had the prefix of "cat" and many of them I had never heard of, so I decided to narrow it down to a list of more common words.

The following are not traditional "Webster" definitions but are words that are commonly used when cats speak to each other:

"Category" - a genre of movies that we would traditionally refer to as "screamers" or "thrillers"....in the cat world they contain blood and guts, hence the "gory".

"Catalogue" - a cat diary. It may contain some rather "catty" comments.

"Cattle" -cats telling on each other, "Nyyyyaaaah, Nyyyyaaaah Fluffy, I'm gonna "cattle" on you!"

"Caterpillar or Caterpillars"-the tall elongated pieces that hold up a structure usually called  a "Cat House".

"Cat House"-a structure where a cat resides, usually adorned with above mentioned "Caterpillars"

"Catwalk" -"Hey Fluffy!!!! The Vet said for better health we should be taking a minimum of a 30 minute catwalk a day!"

"Cataract"-A cat that can really act whether it be on TV or in the movies!

"Catgut" -"Ya know Simba really must go on a diet, his "catgut" is hanging down to the floor"

"Catsup" -cats don't say "Whaaazzzzz up?" they say "Catsssssssup?"

"Catteries" -what cats put in their battery operated toy mice

"Catmint"-prevents fishmouth, keeps their breath "minty fresh!"

"Catkin"-a family of cats. "Smokey our annual "catkin" reunion is July 5th, hope you can take a "catwalk" over and visit!"

"Catacomb"-styling tool for cats.

"Catatonic"-the euphoric state a cat experiences when he has an overdose of "catnip"...."I think we need to stage an intervention for Whiskers, he got a ticket for carrying open "catnip" and was in a "catatonic state."

Now...when you hear cats speaking to each other you will have this handy reference to decode what they are saying.......don't blame me for the "catastrophic, catch-all" definitions, blame my husband for leading my mind down this "Catwalk!"