The Cats Pajamas

The Cats Pajamas The Cats Pajamas The Cats Pajamas By Maeve Maddox Not everyone loves cats, but the language has its share of expressions coined from the appearance and behavior of these slinky domestic companions. The slang of the 1920s leaned towards expressions involving animal anatomy, giving us the cats meow and the cats whiskers, both meaning outstanding! It also gave us a non-anatomical cat expression the cats pajamas, meaning the absolute best or really modern and up-to-date. NOTE: Pajamas were a fairly recent cultural adaptation in the 1920s. The word derives from Hindi pajama, the word for loose trousers tied at the waist. Europeans living in the East adopted the comfortable style for nightwear and the fashion eventually found its way to the West. British spelling favors pyjamas. cat In the 1920s a slang word for flapper was cat, (hence the connection of the cats pajamas to the idea of modernity), but in black slang the word meant man, guy, dude. What it means to call a person a cat varies according to context. To call a man a cat is to imply that hes cool. To call a woman a cat is to insult her. catnap a short sleep, usually in the daytime. I suppose power nap is the more current term. Question: what does one wear while taking a cat nap? Answer: Why, the cats pajamas, of course! having no room to swing a cat being in a confined space. When I was little, I imagined a poor cat being swung through the air by its tail. I finally learned that the cat in this expression derives from a term for a whip used to flog sailors in the Royal Navy in the old days. It had nine thongs instead of one. to rain cats and dogs to rain very hard; possibly from the expression to fight like cats and dogs. catkin the furry flowers of trees like willow, birch and oak. The name derives from the soft, pettable texture of the flowers. catcall rude remarks shouted at sporting events catfish a fish with whiskers. (Yum) catwalk a high narrow walkway like those seen on construction sites. The idea is that only a cat could keep its balance. cats-cradle A game in which a string is looped on the fingers to form an intricate pattern between a players hands that can be successively varied or transferred to another players hands. Whether the word derived from the animals name is anyones guess. catsup A condiment consisting of a thick, smooth-textured, spicy sauce usually made from tomatoes. This word has absolutely nothing to do with cats and, in its original form, had nothing to do with tomatoes. Its from Malay kichap from Chinese koechiap brine of fish. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, catsup (earlier catchup) is a failed attempt at Anglicization, still in use in the U.S. Apparently it was the Americans who added the tomatoes to the original concoction. Also spelled ketchup. catty-corner directional word, meaning that something is diagonally across from something elseanother cat word that has nothing to do with cats. Originally cater-corner. The cater is from an English dialect word meaning to set or move diagonally. Because that cater dropped out of the language, folk etymology got busy and now we have all kinds of cat variants for this concept: catty-cornered kitty-corner kitty-cornered catty-corner cat-a-corner kitty-corner kit-a-corner Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Types and Forms of HumorPeople versus Persons10 Functions of the Comma