Kitty-Talk.

Do you give weird nicknames to your cats? What is it about cats? Was T.S. Eliot right:

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
  It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
  When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
  Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey -
  All of them sensible everyday names. [ . . . ]

But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
  A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep his tail perpendicular,
  Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?

Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
  Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum -
  Names that never belong to more than one cat.

But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
  And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover -
  But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.

When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
  The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
  Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
   His ineffable effable
   Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

-- Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

Sara at Raising Up Sunshine started this. I've often thought about it, but never thought of blogging about it till now. Go over and put your screwy cat nicknames in her comments. I did. It's a lot more fun and strange than most of those lame pop-culture memes about what TV series you watch over and over.

I was wondering: do only women do this? Give their cats lots of weird nicknames, I mean? Is it a mutation of the instinct for baby-talk and babbling language play between mothers and infants that revs up Broca's area in the little brain? I have a whole unique language of nicknames that I speak to each cat, and mothers have told me that they have just such a special language with each of their children. But T.S. Eliot's writing about it suggests that it may not be exclusive to the female gender. (Maybe both sexes have that instinct?) And do we also talk this way to our dogs? Or is it something about cats? (Wait a minute, Sara's list starts with her chihuahua. I guess I don't think of chihuahuas as dogs.) Oh, and speaking of cats . . . (cat tip to Sara, also).

Comments

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Hell, the *names* I give my cats are weird enough: shimbra, ali'i, vashti, radar, kaleo...

[Sissy Willis]

I think you're right about Broca's area, and it's not just for mothers and their babies. I'm thinking of something I read -- and posted about -- that locates pleasurable feelings between mother and child and feelings between new lovers in the same part of the brain.

What is this thing called love?"

Addicted to love

And speaking of love, my husband is, in fact, a much sought-after cat whisperer: Tiny and Baby dissolve in heavy purring, rolling over -- sometimes falling over the side of whatever they are lying on -- and even drooling at the sweet things he whispers in their ears.

'Have added my pet names in Sara's comments, as you suggested:

Sweet Tiny Pea: Tiny, Angel Baby, Love Dove, Tee-Toe, Keek, Keeker, KeeCoo, CooCoo, Silky, Silky Girl, Gramma's Own Baby Girl, Daughter of the Squirrel Slayer.

Baby Cakes: Baby, Cakes, Cakester, The Babe, Odee, BooBoo, Bay-b'Kay, Fluffy, Fluffy Boy, Mr. Fluff, The Baby Lion, The Tiger, Gramma's Own Baby Boy, Son of the Squirrel Slayer.

Both: Yanimals!, Her Own Kitties

I'm a big fan of the Old Possum's Book, myself, as blogged here:

What's in a name?

Cats and mouse

[Sissy Willis]

Whoops. Wrong link above:

What is this thing called love?

[Funky Dung]

"I was wondering: do only women do this? Give their cats lots of weird nicknames, I mean?"

Speaking from my own experience as a straight male cat owner, no.

[AmbivaBro]

Dear old Woody, of blessed memory, had dozens of names. But then he had two owners contributing aliases.

[amba]

I think it's funny that the guys say their cats have lots of names -- but they won't tell them. (It would probably make them feel silly to admit the delicious puerile nonsense they too talk to their cats.)

There's also, however, an element of betraying an intimacy. Of my most tenderly beloved cats, I literally can't tell the love-names; it was between me and them. A whole language dies with the cat . . .

[Alan]

I have nothing against cats but for some reason they don't like me.

So I have a dog named Bruce. He has many nickanes. Bruce Moose. Brucifer. Don Bruccino. And, quite often, G*d damn, piece of sh*t dog--althouth that's more of a description than a nickname.

From experience, I think everyone nicknames their pets. I wonder if it's because they don't talk to us so we end up talking for them. The nicknames are a way to describe their differing moods. Either that, or we're all just profoundly silly on the inside and since pets can't judge us, we feel comfortable being weird around them.

[nappy40]

We had a white cat named Brick House, and a black cat named Cross.

[amba]

Interesting thought, Alan, that we are somehow channeling the inner being of the animal.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

No, Annie, it's just that the names I sue are so dull. "Cat-cat." "Fluffy cat." "Pretty cat." "X.O., Master Chief, Goofy Ensign." (The last was Midshipman until I had him fixed.)

[sara]

its definitely not just us ladies who do this nick-naming. my post about our animals nick-names was a joint effort. nate definitely remembered a few that i had forgotten. xoxox

[Meryl Yourish]

Gracie is Sweetness, Princess Gracie, Gorgeous, Miss Priss, C[pause]AT, and Beebee.

Tigger is Annoyance (sometimes Mr. Annoyance), My Big Pig Tig, Handsome, Fuzzball, Fat Cat, and will literally answer to anything. He even comes when I call Gracie, and tries to put his head in between my hand and her as I reach to pet her.

My original Tig had one name: The Tig. Everyone called him that when referring to him. "How's The Tig?" "Is The Tig still on his diet?"

Cat names. Fun stuff.