Here’s some more terminology stuff, but this time the humans in charge of the naming activities were up-to-date enough to leave out the dead Latin designations. Supposedly, that should make what follows somewhat easier to understand, but yours truly is not too convinced about that either. I’ll give it a try anyway and hope for the best.
For example, it seems that some cows hanging around together are called a herd, whereas a bunch of birds is referred to as a flock. A grouping of us cats, when we have our social gatherings, is said to be a clowder.”
I’ve never heard that expression used in my life! Clowder? Like I’m going to say to my cat buddies, “Hey, let’s get the clowder together and go mouse hunting.” Yeah, right!
By the way, my caretakers served this clam chowder one evening that smelled great. Our house had a wonderful, mouth-watering scent of seafood floating around in the air. This instantly got my full attention down there below the dining room table.
“Meow, meow! Meow, meow!”
“Meow, meow! Meow, meow!”
I did my best to get them to notice me so they might at least send down a small appetizer of that delicacy to floor level.
“Meow, meow! Meow, meow!”
Unfortunately, they were so distracted by their own slurping and gulping that my persistent efforts to communicate with them were rudely ignored. Oh well. You win some, and you lose some.
It makes me think though. How about organizing a clowder chowder party? You know, big servings of chowder for the cat clowder. Personally, I’m ready any day at any time for this kind of socializing.
Hmmm. That probably won’t happen, right?
My caretakers are sort of special about sharing their goodies with me a lot of the time. When I’m making valiant efforts to take part in their feast, they like to remind me that I’ve got my dish of dry cat food out there in the kitchen available all hours of the day.
Hey, I already know that, okay! The deal is, I’m looking for a little variety in my diet with the hopes of spicing up my life a bit, that’s all. “There’s some dry food in my dish,” they say?
Getting back to the subject at hand, we’re collectively known as clowders instead of herds or flocks, and who knows why or how they came up with that term. How about a “herd of cats?” What’s wrong with that, huh?
In addition, I’ve learned that a male cat is called a “Tom” and a female, a “Molly.” Say what?
I’m Freddy, got it! Freddy the Cat. I’ve known a few Tom and Molly felines in the past, but what’s the deal with the name standardization, anyway?
Okay. How about if we called all the male humans, Tom, and the females, Molly? Would you like that, huh, would you?
No, no, no. I was born Freddy, I’m still Freddy, and I’m always gonna be Freddy. Period. End of discussion. Final conclusion. Please don’t be fooling around with our names like that.
Furthermore, humans have got extra special names for the mating couples. The father pedigree is referred to as the sire and the mother pedigree is the dam. Hey, what’s wrong with pop and mom, and leave it at that?
Between you and me, the word sire sounds pretty strange. And as for the dam part, my mama cat taught me to not be cursing and would whap me with her paw when an occasional bad word slipped out of my mouth.
Let’s move on to some other details about us cats. I still like the idea though of organizing a clowder chowder party. Will you consider that for the future, please?