Patti and granddaughter Lily were talking about where Great-Grandma lives. Oma said, “She lives kitty-corner to Uncle Armin and Aunt Donna.”
Five-year-old Lily asked, “What does that mean? Kitty-corner! Is there a kitty there?” “No, there are no cats at either house. The cats are at the farm.” “Then why do you say kitty-corner?” “Because they live diagonally from each other.”
The conversation should have continued with a description of what diagonally meant but three-year-old Scottie infiltrated the conversation and started talking about kitties, which are far more interesting to preschoolers. Teaching about kitty-corner went the way of the dodo bird after that.
Kitty-corner means what is diagonal or oblique to or from something else. Some people may use kitty-cornered or catty-corner or catty-cornered or catercorner or cater-cornered for kitty-corner. These words have nothing to do with cats at all. It is an example of the English language cozying up with French.
In the French language around the 15th century the French word for four, quatre, could also be spelled catre. So, the English started using a similar spelling for certain instances of the number they called four. Cater was used for playing games, especially referring to the four in a deck of cards or four dots on a die.
The four spots on dice, or four symbols on cards, outline a mark like an X. And so, cater developed into referring to on the diagonal or diagonally. Over time cater became used as a verb meaning to place, move, or cut (across) diagonally. When playing chess, one could cater certain pieces on the board. Eventually the use of the word in dice or cards faded and cater was added to corner and referred to the diagonal as catty-corner, and eventually people started to use kitty-corner.
In certain regional dialects obscure words were derived from cater and catty. Catabias is an American regional term that means something that has lost its proper shape or gone awry. The derelict house was all catabias, that is, it has gone out of shape. Catawampus means gone askew or all wrong as it is used in some US regions.
She didn't need the printer malfunctioning, especially on a morning when everything else seemed to be going cattywampus.
It is possible to purchase a kitty korner cat door from . The Kitty Korner Slidelock is designed to convert your standard interior residential door into a convenient cat door.
The unique Kitty Korner SlideLock hinge mechanism is designed to lock in either the open or closed position via its patented interlocking hinge knuckles. The SlideLock also slides up and away from the floor, allowing you to swing it open or closed without striking the floor as a standard hinge will.
The Kitty Korner cat door allows your cat access to a room with the litter box while keeping the dog out of the room. When used on your bedroom door the Kitty Korner cat door allows you to sleep with your door closed while letting the cat come and go as they please.
A group of people can all give a certain amount of money into a kitty to pay for something. The team set up a kitty in which every player put $1 in every game to fund the end of season party.
Hello Kitty is a fictional character created by Yuko Shgimizu in 1974, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Hello Kitty is depicted as a British anthropomorphized white cat with a red bow and no visible mouth.
And of course, a kitty can be a young cat, especially a kitten. Our granddaughters love kitties, but because their parents suffer from allergic reactions to felines, there will be no kitties in the house, even if the animal is kept kitty-corner from them.
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to [email protected]. Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
