a deadly game of cat and mouse

[Joel S. Berson]

At 1/24/2010 01:29 AM, Baker, John wrote:
>"Game of cat and mouse," without "deadly," is older, of course; OED
>has it back to 1887 (under the entry for "cat"), and Wilkie Collins
>used it in his contribution to The Haunted House (1859).
>
>But I never previously realized that this was a literal game.  From
>the March 1878 issue of Golden Hours, via Google Books:

I have an unspecific memory of playing this myself as a child!

And of course it is a literal game to literal cats, who are known to
bat a live literal mouse around a bit before dispatching it.

Joel

>
>
><<The Game of Cat and Mouse.
>
>Al.L the players but two join hands in a ring. One is inside, and is
>called the Mouse, another is outside and is called the Cat.
>
>The players begin the game by turning round ihe circle rapidly,
>raising their arms. The Cat springs in at one side of the ring, and
>the Mouse jumps out at the other. The players then suddenly lower
>their arms, so as to keep Ihe Cat in. The Cat goes round and round,
>trying to get out; and as the circle of players is in motion all the
>lime, she is sure to find a place to break through at, if she is a
>sharpsighted Cat. As soon as she gets through, she chases the Mouse,
>who tries to save herself by getting inside the circle again.
>
>To let her in, the players raise their arms. If she gets in without
>the Cat being able to get in after her, the Cat must pay a forfeit,
>and try again. Then the players name the other players for the next
>game,-the new ones fall into a circle, and the game goes on as before.
>
>The Cat should be one of the elder children of the party, and the
>Mouse a younger boy or girl.>>
>
>
>
>John Baker
>
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
>
>From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Jonathan Lighter
>Sent: Sat 1/23/2010 9:04 PM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: a deadly game of cat and mouse
>
>
>
>Hearing this cliche' on TV for the nth and final time I can stand it just
>now, I decided to look into the problem.
>
>The earliest I could come up with was in Michael O'Malley & Ralph Lane's
>"Vic Flint"  strip in the _Clovis (N.M.) News-Journal_ of July 11, 1948 (via
>Newspaper Archive): "Inside the Crystal Lake Amusement Park a deadly game of
>cat and mouse was in progress."
>
>It seems to have taken off almost instantly, though high-class periodicals
>like the N.Y. Times were slow on the uptake.
>
>JL
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org