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

Tue Jul 28 11:35:33 UTC 2026

1874 _Weekly Journal_ (Lafayette, Ind.) (Jan. 2) 2: Ed Keeline, an
engineer, shot a brakeman by the name of Bitler, while in a cat-house
last evening.

1882 _S. F. Chronicle_ (July 10) 3: A "cathouse"...meaning a house of ill-fame.

1885 _Daily State Register_ (Springfield, Ill.) (Apr. 30) 3: Belle
Johnson, a colored cyprian, keeps a cat-house on Tenth street.

JL

On Tue, Jul 28, 2026 at 6:56 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Maybe you should check the trailblazing and forgotten HDAS as well,
> the pioneer in "cathouse" studies.
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Jul 27, 2026 at 9:09 PM Dan Goncharoff
> <00001bc983129c8b-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I believe everyone who saw The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (1976) knew
> > what it was referring to.
> >
> > DanG
> >
> > On Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 8:41 PM Martin Schneider <
> > 000024dc089a88e9-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks for the tips. I am well aware of Ngram Viewer but I suspect you guys
> > > are more skilled at using it.
> > >
> > > One of the movies that got ensnared in my net that was most telling about
> > > all of this was *The Cheyenne Social Club*, a western/comedy featuring
> > > James Stewart and Henry Fonda. The entire point of the movie is that a town
> > > ends up more or less legalizing the local 'cat house' (ahem) and the
> > > purportedly risible portion of the plot is how these supposedly
> > > self-respecting citizens just .... patronize the place in broad daylight!
> > > Without shame! What a thigh-slapper!
> > >
> > > The various sexual revolutions of that moment ended up making that movie,
> > > tolerably popular in its day, all but incomprehensible to modern audiences,
> > > and thank god for that.
> > >
> > > On Mon, Jul 27, 2026 at 8:34 PM Emily Gordon <
> > > 0000205244c4ee9d-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > > A Hollywood studio has a fine stable of actors. One ends up in the
> > > doghouse
> > > > for going to a cathouse. Another lands in the fish tank for flipping
> > > > chickens*.
> > > >
> > > > * stole the last term from this Substack collection of criminal slang by
> > > > Jason Crowley, “Dictionary of Crime, 6th Edition,” linked below. Is it
> > > the
> > > > same resource as Jay Robert Nash's “Dictionary of Crime: Criminal
> > > Justice,
> > > > Criminology, & Law Enforcement”? No, I think it’s an original collection.
> > > > Please weigh in if you know.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > https://open.substack.com/pub/crimeandpsychology/p/dictionary-of-crime-6th-edition?r=ayt&utm_medium=ios
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, Jul 27, 2026 at 2:33 PM Rich Lowenthal <
> > > > 000018596069864c-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > There is also the similar term "cat flat." Even more obsolete than "cat
> > > > > house" though.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > ------ Original Message ------
> > > > > From "ADSGarson O'Toole"
> > > > > <00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > > To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > > > Date 7/27/2026 5:26:55 PM
> > > > > Subject Re: the slow, or fast, demise of the cat-house
> > > > >
> > > > > >Interesting topic. Here is a start. Green's Dictionary of Slang (GDoS)
> > > > > >has an excellent entry for the noun cat-house. Here are the first and
> > > > > >last citations.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/moa5iyi
> > > > > >
> > > > > >[Begin excerpt from GDoS]
> > > > > >cat-house n.
> > > > > >1. (US) a brothel.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >1850 [US] Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 10 Aug. n.p.: The biggest
> > > > > >kind of cat house, including girls, pimp, French spring bed-steads,
> > > > > >three-dollar per bottle chapmagne (cider) and all the other fixin’s.
> > > > > >...
> > > > > >2020 [Aus] D. Whish-Wilson Shore Leave 29: ‘Every cathouse in every
> > > > > >port, you’ll find sliced pockets in the mattresses’.
> > > > > >[End excerpt from GDoS]
> > > > > >
> > > > > >Google Books Ngram Viewer is a flawed but interesting tool for tracing
> > > > > >the popularity of words and phrases over time which you may already
> > > > > >know about.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >https://books.google.com/ngrams/
> > > > > >
> > > > > >The following graphs do not distinguish between the different senses
> > > > > >of "cat house".
> > > > > >
> > > > > >The OED has three senses for cat-house:
> > > > > >
> > > > > >(a) a movable pent-house used in early times by besiegers to protect
> > > > > >themselves in approaching fortifications
> > > > > >(b) a house for cats
> > > > > >(c) a bothel
> > > > > >
> > > > > >Here is a pointer to the graph for "cat house"
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=%22cat+house%22&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3
> > > > > >
> > > > > >Here is a pointer to the graph for "cathouse"
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=cathouse&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3
> > > > > >
> > > > > >Garson
> > > > > >
> > > > > >On Mon, Jul 27, 2026 at 4:52 PM Martin Schneider
> > > > > ><000024dc089a88e9-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >>  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
> > > > > >>
> > > > > >>  ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > > >>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > > > >
> > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------
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> > > > >
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>
>
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> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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