fun with phrases

[Joel S. Berson]

Does "suck the air out of" together with cats go
back to the lamia?  (Lamia itself is a1382.)  A
lamia being a woman who sucks the blood of
children, witches appearing as cats, cats sucking air out of infants?

Joel

At 9/28/2011 03:50 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>The point is that the phrase itself first appears in GB in 1948 in a more or
>less literal sense, which is then linked with cats in 1962.  The cat
>business is meant literally: as a superstition, it may lie behind the 1948
>ex., which appears to have superstitious or ghostly overtones.
>
>In 1985 the phrase is used fig. to describe a person who impresses everyone.
>Leaves them breathless, perhaps?
>
>It achieved cliche' status only after 1996. This morning I heard it used of
>Gov. Christie - as
>a compliment.
>
>JL
>
>
>
>On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 3:11 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: fun with phrases
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 2:55 PM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:
> > > cats [
] suck the breath from babies, killing them
> >
> > FWIW, that's the version that I'm familiar with, though I didn't
> > encounter it till some time after 1962, when it was given to me as the
> > speaker's reason for disliking cats.
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> > to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -Mark Twain
> >
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> >
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