It was a pleasant cold  day when I left my flat, for my teaching job at a nearby school. As usual, I said goodbye to my cat, Orange Pie, who is a lovely orange and white tawny cat and my dog, Sweety Pie, who is a precocious and brilliant tiger like dog, who looks very much like a tiger with  his brown with black stripes.

All of a sudden rain pelted down from the skies. I whisked out my umbrella and was on my way. Having done extensive reading on several animals in encyclopaedias, I likened the steadily increasing rain to an expression in the English language, “It’s raining cats and dogs!”

This made me think of other expressions regarding cats. My own cat, Orange Pie,  is an extremely beautiful animal with her orange and white fur being neatly washed by her.  She is also very intelligent.

But I especially like Orange Pie, because she is very clean!  No one taught her, but yet when nature calls, she does not trouble anyone, but goes to a secluded spot in the garden, digs out a hole in the mud, does her job and then responsibly covers it all up without creating a mess. In fact, sometimes I wish human beings could be as clean as her!

But, yet, what is absolutely unforgivable is that even though most cats have the above attributes, they are denigrated  with absolutely derogatory expressions in the English language. Let’s take a look.  A woman who is mean, spiteful and malicious is said to be a `catty’ woman. Why “catty”, when we know cats are so sensitive, caring and warm? A `catfight’ is one where two persons, usually women, are quarreling. This is totally unacceptable when it  known that cats are usually peaceful creatures.

The superstitions on cats abound, for example, when a black cat crosses one’s path, it is said to bring bad luck.

But the truth is that owning a cat is one of the nicest things in the world!

Even our dictionaries have not spared cats. The number of expressions maligning  cats are legion. “When the cat is away, the mice will play” is a saying that means when a boss or a bossy person is away, the subordinates will make merry and not do much work. “Who will bell the cat?” is an expression which means a person should have great initiative in order to do something which involves taking risks.

A “cat footed jewel thief” is one who has a very cautious way of walking, usually on padded feet, like a cat, which helps the person to avoid detection and hence successfully steal. Hence, cats are deemed sly and stealthy thieves, just because of their silent way of walking! Then, there is another expression that is derogatory to cats, which is when a person is said to play “a cat and mouse game” where he maneuvers and tries to make clever and cunning moves. Why on earth should these lovely cuddlely creatures be accused of stealth?

There are other expressions maligning cats, like “a cat among the pigeons”, which implies a violent intruder, “fight like Kilkenny cats”, which means to fight to destruction, and “not a cat in hell’s chance”, which implies that there is no chance whatever. A “cat of nine tails” is a nine-lashed rope whip for flogging, which was used as a punishment for criminals.

After school, as I neared home, I happened to see my cat, Orange Pie, and my dog,  Sweety Pie,  up in arms.

Sweety Pie, normally a very well behaved dog, chased Orange Pie, who scurried and scuttled out of the way by climbing a nearby tree.

And that brought me to the last derogatory expression on cats, which is “to fight like cats and dogs”. I would like to say here that though I normally support Sweety Pie, in this instance, he was at fault and therefore to say “fighting like cats and dogs” means that cats, too, are fighters, is not correct. Fights  between cats and dogs are usually started by the dog,  while cats are just defensive.

You will probably agree with me when I say that cats are more sinned against than sinning. And that is the bottom line.