LA GATA: yo no quero la comer

[Dennis R. Preston]

Ron,

Si Senhor, you are right about Michigan sexuality (done with guns mostly,
usually as part of a militia group).

But the diminutive (gatita) is not necessary to indicate that a cat is
female ("una gata," sin "-ita," will do). You are right that "una gata" may
also be a car jack. Just a little friendly homophony. (Unless you're one of
those homonophobes!)

dInIs

PS: Of course, you might have learned a variety in which the diminutive
form on one sense of an item (e.g., female cat) might have been so frequent
as to make it seem obligatory.



>In a message dated 6/22/99 5:46:55 PM, preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU writes:
>
><< El Senhor Butters is having me on (again). He knows very well it means
>"Don't screw my cat." >>
>
>In truth, LA GATA is a car jack. At least in the part of Mexico I lived in.
>EL GATO is a cat. LA GATITA is the female cat. Is this not so every where?
>
>Don't screw my car jack? You guys in Michigan have really WEIRD sexiual
>fantasies.

Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736