[Ads-l] Quip: In Ancient Times Cats Were Worshipped As Gods; They Have Not Forgotten This (Probably not Terry Pratchett)

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Btw, I believe we deal with just a single divine ancient-Egyptian
cat, viz., the cat-god Mau (onomatopoetic name; meow).
He was pretty important.   Each night the sun-god Ra traveled
through the netherworld and was attacked by the Egyptian god
of chaos (a huge fearsome  serpent named Apep, Mau did battle
with Apep each night and always won, cutting off the head of his
opponent each time.
If Mau had lost, the sun would not have risen the next day.

Gerald Cohen

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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
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To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Quip: In Ancient Times Cats Were Worshipped As Gods; They Have Not Forgotten This (Probably not Terry Pratchett)

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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Quip: In Ancient Times Cats Were Worshipped As Gods; They Have
              Not Forgotten This (Probably not Terry Pratchett)
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The amusing remark in the subject line is often attributed to the
famous English fantasy author Terry Pratchett. I received a request to
explore its provenance.

The Wikiquote webpage for Pratchett presents a 2004 anonymous
attribution and a 2007 attribution to Pratchett. He died in 2015.

The phrasing is highly variable; hence, it is difficult to trace. I
have not yet found any substantive evidence that Terry Pratchett
crafted this quip. The attribution was anonymous in the earliest
matches. Here is an overview with dates and ascriptions showing the
evolution:

1991 Apr 22: The Egyptians worshipped cats, and the cats have never
forgotten (Anonymous)

1993 Dec 28: Thousands of years ago the Egyptians worshipped cats as
gods. Cats have never forgotten this (Anonymous)

1998 Apr 8: Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats
have never forgotten this (Anonymous)

1998 Apr 16: In ancient times, cats were worshipped as gods. They have
never forgotten this. (Anonymous)

1998 May 12: Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods.
Cats have never forgotten this (Tentatively attributed to Terry
Pratchett)

2002 Mar 24: Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods.
Cats have never forgotten this (Another tentative attribution to Terry
Pratchett)

2004: In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not
forgotten this (Attributed to Terry Pratchett)

Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article.
https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fquoteinvestigator.com%2F2024%2F08%2F11%2Fcats-gods%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cgcohen%40MST.EDU%7C2924b2e8872d491c28ce08dcba40d575%7Ce3fefdbef7e9401ba51a355e01b05a89%7C0%7C0%7C638590034835232926%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=UfVIRUWZLr8aNt9du%2FQdB8GB1mmICtmfMVw%2B29Aq9pw%3D&reserved=0<https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/08/11/cats-gods/>

Feedback welcome,
Garson

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