Re: Cat got your tongue
Posted by joel on February 25, 2000 In Reply to: Re: Cat got your tongue posted
by ESC 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).
The humorous "shorthand" in this phrase encapsulates a chain of
reasoning. You're not speaking. Maybe you have no tongue and can't
speak. Cat's hunt and eat small bits, like mice, goldfish, and songbirds.
Maybe a cat caught and ate your tongue. "What's the matter? Cat
got your tongue?"
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