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Anja Lieder | all galleries >> Galleries >> A Few Of My Favourite Things > What's new pussycat?
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What's new pussycat?

Kinks Felinicious says:

'The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, or George or Bill Bailey -
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter -
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum -
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover -
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.'

From: T.S. Eliot: Old Possums Book of Practical Cats


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Anja Lieder01-Aug-2008 18:54
Well, Mairead, I decided to call our Cat Princess Leia which is somewhat elaborate for an everyday name, but Piers keeps calling her 'Pusspuss' so all is well and as Old Possums intended...
Mairéad01-Aug-2008 18:43
Thanks for the poem - not sure where that leaves poor Toffee aka Toffs, russy rat, fussy fat, pusz, or whatever
rolls of the tongue at a given moment.
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