fun with phrases

[Baker, John]

        Snopes says that the superstition that cats can suck the breath from a baby goes back at least to 1607 (though it doesn't give the cite), so an association with the lamia seems possible but speculative at best.

        I never understood the superstition to be about witches or witches' familiars.  It's about real cats.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Joel S. Berson
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 7:16 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: fun with phrases

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

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