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

Mon Aug 12 17:05:09 UTC 2024

Thanks for your response and your information about the cat-god Mau, Gerald.

Andrew Crowther sent me a wonderful 1933 citation within a short story
by the famous English humorist P. G. Wodehouse.

[ref] 1933, Mulliner Nights by P. G. Wodehouse, Chapter 2: The Story
of Webster, Start Page 41, Quote Page 43, Herbert Jenkins Limited,
London. (Verified with scans; Internet Archive) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
“The real objection to the great majority of cats is their
insufferable air of superiority. Cats, as a class, have never
completely got over the snootiness caused by the fact that in Ancient
Egypt they were worshipped as gods. This makes them too prone to set
themselves up as critics and censors of the frail and erring human
beings whose lot they share. They stare rebukingly.”
[End excerpt]

The QI article has been updated and partially rewritten. Changes
should be visible within 24 hours:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/08/11/cats-gods/

Garson

On Sun, Aug 11, 2024 at 9:43 PM Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:
>
> 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
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2024 3:04 PM
> 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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> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> 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)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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