[Ads-l] Katy Bar and her kitty corner

[Stephen Goranson]

"Katy bar the door," in my brother Ted's suggestion, may be related to "Kitty bar the door." (Going to 1437 for an Ur-Katy is rather far to seek.) Guess what? There are indeed printed American versions with "Kitty bar the door." Here's one example from October 10, 1874. Governor of Louisiana, William Pitt Kellogg in a speech, after urging his followers to register to vote, said: "They must not be in the condition of him who cries "Kitty bar the door.! (Laughter.)" the New Orleans Weekly Louisianan 2/5.


Stephen Goranson

http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/

Stephen Goranson's Home Page - Duke University<http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/>
people.duke.edu
"Celsus of Pergamum: Locating a Critic of Early Christianity," Ch. 30 in The Archaeology of Difference: Gender, Ethnicity, Class and the "Other" in Antiquity: Studies in Honor of Eric M. Meyers (AASOR 60/61, 2007 ...



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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU><mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU><mailto:goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2018 4:30 AM
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Subject: [ADS-L] Katy Bar and her kitty corner

My Mom used to say "It'll be Katy bar the door." My brother Ted recently wondered whether it was originally "katy bar the door," diagonally. Many agree that "kitty corner" came from "cater corner." (Thoroughly discussed by Anatoly Liberman in An Analytic Dictionary of the English Language: An Introduction [2008], pages 133-5.) And there is no consensus on a real or fictional Ur-Katy who barred. Might Kitty and Katy be, in a way, catering sisters? Or at least the choice of the name Katy have been so influenced?

Stephen Goranson
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/<http://people.duke.edu/%7Egoranson/>
Stephen Goranson's Home Page - Duke University<http://people.duke.edu/%7Egoranson/>
people.duke.edu
"Celsus of Pergamum: Locating a Critic of Early Christianity," Ch. 30 in The Archaeology of Difference: Gender, Ethnicity, Class and the "Other" in Antiquity: Studies in Honor of Eric M. Meyers (AASOR 60/61, 2007 ...


Stephen Goranson's Home Page - Duke University<http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/<http://people.duke.edu/%7Egoranson/>>
people.duke.edu
"Celsus of Pergamum: Locating a Critic of Early Christianity," Ch. 30 in The Archaeology of Difference: Gender, Ethnicity, Class and the "Other" in Antiquity: Studies in Honor of Eric M. Meyers (AASOR 60/61, 2007 ...



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