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Cat Got your Tongue?

Posted by ESC on September 08, 2003

In Reply to: Cat Got your Tongue? posted by nikita on September 08, 2003

: Hello. I'm curious as to the origin of the phrase, "Cat got your tongue". Does anybody understand how this expression came to be?
: Thanks Kindly,
: Kita

"HAS THE CAT GOT YOUR TONGUE? Why don't you speak? Your silence is suspicious. The saying originated in the mid-nineteenth century and was used when addressing a child who refused to answer a parent's questions after some mischief. Often shortened to `cat got your tongue?'." From Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).

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