Date:  Sun, 23 Oct 1994 23:09:39 -0700

From:  "CAVEMAN -- San Bernardino, Calif. USA" <cjcoker[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CSUPOMONA.EDU>

Subject: Q: Mllions of Cats



Hi:



We (my wife and I) read to the wee ones each night. Tonight we read a book

called "Millions of Cats" by Wanda Ga'g (ISBN 0-590-40612-4, Scholastics Inc,.

730 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 - 1928). Any way we have several questions:



1. Is the apostrophe in Ga'g a symbol indicating missing letters, as in

  can't (cannot) or don't (do not)? Or is it a glottal stop symbol

  commonly used iin many orthographies? Is it something else entirely?

  (The book is hand-lettered so I am sure it is not a diacritical mark

  over the a.)



2. The old man in the story "set out" instead of walking or something

  similar. Is this 1928 lingo? My 3-year-old didn't know what set out

  meant because we never use it.



3. The cats "quarreled" instead of fought. Again, no recognition of the

  word -- was it also more common in 1928?



4. Do cats eat grass? I thought they were carnivores, but I'm not a

  biologist -- of course, anybody on ADS-L probably isn't either.



Anybody have any answers? We're baffled.



Chuck Coker

CJCoker[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CSUPomona.Edu



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There have been no dragons in my life, only small spiders and stepping in gum.

I could have coped with the dragons.

                              Anonymous (but wise)

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