[Ads-l] the slow, or fast, demise of the cat-house

[Martin Schneider]

Dialect enthusiasts!

Fifteen or so years ago, I embarked on a project that involved tracking,
and watching, the #1 movies, in sequence, starting from 1970. The movie had
to be the listed box office winner in a given week, and the weeks supplied
the chronology. As I watched these movies, I noticed this term that is no
longer in use. It came up in multiple movies. "Cat house," to mean,
bordello, brothel, a place where women of ill repute are available, that
sort of thing.

"What'ya think you're doing, this isn't a cat house!" Such lines were
littered across the 1970 set of movies.

Obviously, the term stood out for not really existing in our time. What
happened to it? Where did it come from? When did it die? These are things
we could track.

Thanks,
Martin

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