Latin nominatives and animal names (cf. Bossie)

[Wilson Gray]

You've forgotten "Bowser." Well, it's more likely that you're simply too
young to have encountered it. ;-) But, once upon a time,
that was also a stereotypical name for a dog.
BTW, The Bowser Club, Founded 1492, is the oldest and most exclusive men's
club in the United States. ;-)  For more information, vide the cartoon, Grin
and Bear It, drawn and captioned by the artist known as "Lichty."

-Wilson

On 4/28/06, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Latin nominatives and animal names (cf. Bossie)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >Larry, are you claiming that "Felix" is a name that is or was generally
> used
> >to call or otherwise address random cats as Boss(ie) is used to call or
> >address random cows?
>
> No, you're right about that.  "Felix" is more analogous to "Rover" or
> "Fido" than to "Bossie", not really for random cats.  Except maybe
> random cartoon cats, pre-Garfield and -Heathcliff.
>
> >Is it once again the case that I need to get out more?
> >Sigh! Well, what can you do? ;-)
> >
> >-Wilson
>
>
>
> >On 4/28/06, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> >>
> >>---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >>Subject:      Re: Latin nominatives and animal names (cf. Bossie)
> >>
>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>At 1:22 PM -0200 4/28/06, Charles Doyle wrote:
> >>>We do name our lions Leo, not Leon.  (At the moment, that's
> >>>the only other stereo- or prototypical animal name I can
> >>>think of that resembles the Latin common noun designating
> >>>the species.)
> >>>
> >>>--Charlie
> >>Well, there's Felix the Cat, which I assume is at least influenced by
> >>fe:lis (since cats aren't notorious for being happy), although I
> >>suppose that was more of a genus than a species name before it became
> >>adapted into "felis catus"/"felis domesticus" for kitty-cats.
> >>
> >>L
> >>
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