pussy," adj. = weak; effeminate; cowardly; unmanly; soft or easy

[Wilson Gray]

Mark A. Mandel asks:

Is it reasonable to suppose that beef cattle are generally raised on
large ranches, and these terms originated in a milieu of small family
farms?

It's not only reasonable but also absolutely necessary, since such
ranches didn't exist until after the European takeover of the New
World.

Also, back in the day, cats didn't eat Cat Chow. Rather, their
economic value was based on  the fact that they fed on rats and mice.
If a person had a female cat, he had a source of more cats and cats
are death on rodents. Even well-fed house cats will hunt and kill mice
and rats that are foolish enough to move indoors during cold weather.
Based on my own experience, I can say that any house cat will kill any
household rodents. In fact, house cats will even catch and eat moths,
beetles, cockroaches, and flies. But it isn't always the case that
such a cat will eat its kills. As a consequence, you will discover the
hard way what a good mouser your kitty is, i.e. when the stench of the
rodents' rotting bodies begins to waft through the house.

-Wilson Gray

On 8/18/05, Mark A. Mandel <mamandel at ldc.upenn.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: pussy," adj. = weak; effeminate; cowardly; unmanly; soft or
>               easy
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Larry writes:
>      >>>>>
> I think it goes with many folks' sense that all cats are "she" unless
> proven "he".   As far as animals go, though, a bunch of them have the
> female designation as unmarked/default:  goose (vs. gander), duck
> (vs. drake) as well as "cow".
>   <<<<<
>
> I can't give you the citation, but I recall some discussion years ago --
> maybe many years ago, when I was in graduate school! -- and probably a paper
> or squib asserting that when there is a default sex designation, it's
> usually for the sex which has the most economic value for us. For example,
> we value domestic fowl for their eggs and cattle for their milk, so "duck
> [drake], goose [gander], cow [bull]". (Is it reasonable to suppose that beef
> cattle are generally raised on large ranches, and these terms originated in
> a milieu of small family farms?) That doesn't apply to "cat" and "dog",
> though.
>
> -- Mark
> [This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]
>


--
-Wilson Gray