Posted by ESC on February 25, 2000
In Reply to: Cat got your tongue posted by Frankie on February 25, 2000
: I know when someone can't or won't speak someone would say:
"What's the matter?" "Cat got your tongue"?
: Where did this come from!?
"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..." From "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titleman (Random House, New York, 1996).