Date: Thu, 11 Aug 1994 13:13:10 GMT+1200

From: Tim Behrend ASI_BEH[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CCNOV2.AUCKLAND.AC.NZ

Subject: Re: your male type cats



Jim,



When I put together the post and mentioned cat houses and catting

around I wondered, too, which direction the cat was pointing. My

sense was that it had to do with acting like a tomcat, and that the

cat of cat house derived from that. The OED's second definition of

cat is specifically "he-cat", with no corresponding gloss for cat =

she-cat. My feeling is that in contemporary American English

feminine associations for felines are most identified with words

associated with puss and pussy, while "cat" is either more gender

neutral or masculine, as mentioned above.



By the way, though I work in New Zealand, I am an East-Side Cleveland

boy.



Cheers,

Tim Behrend