[Ads-l] Katy Bar and her kitty corner

[Stephen Goranson]

Oops/thanks/sorry, Garson. That somehow did not register. There are, as you may know, additional examples of "Kitty bar the door." More research needed. For now, I'll note that the earliest so far US reported "Kitty bar the door" and "Katie bar the door" are both from Louisiana--as also is an 1847 "Miss Kitty bars" [?!--maybe no more relevant than Gunsmoke saloon......].


SG


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <...> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <...>
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2018 10:58 AM
To: ...
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Katy Bar and her kitty corner

Stephen: Perhaps the message I sent to the list on Aug 18, 2018 was
not transmitted to all list members. The message included the
interesting citation that you also found for "Kitty bar the door"
dated October 10, 1874

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__listserv.linguistlist.org_pipermail_ads-2Dl_2018-2DAugust_152515.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=UIZdKROIFklDHLjjvNFeUq3uJgywoo5WaXSrY5wBSO8&s=HQml_pgM5Ys1NjhRLZhJNZmFYOMMIJfKjmOzg3YvnW8&e=

On Thu, Aug 30, 2018 at 8:33 AM Stephen Goranson <...> wrote:
>
> "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<...>
> 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 ...
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <><mailto:goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2018 4:30 AM
> To:
> 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 ...
>
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=DwIFaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=UIZdKROIFklDHLjjvNFeUq3uJgywoo5WaXSrY5wBSO8&s=JwVVXTURrU1K656t6Yr6mOLuVWWVO-z5SL0lsL8yOmk&e=><https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=DwIFaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=UIZdKROIFklDHLjjvNFeUq3uJgywoo5WaXSrY5wBSO8&s=JwVVXTURrU1K656t6Yr6mOLuVWWVO-z5SL0lsL8yOmk&e=>

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