h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi SWL

No offence, but personally, I’d prefer articles like this weren’t anywhere on the Internet, but if it must be here, can you please emphasise finding the owner of a dead cat as a priority. (Though I’m not sure it’s legal to pick up someone’s dead cat and take it away)

In my opinion the ‘roadkill’ section is dealt with in a very flippant way. I’ve worked for a few different animal charities and organisations, part of that included taking phone calls of missing cats, often from upset and distressed owners. Most cat owners do care about their cats and will want to know what has happened to a missing pet, and want to bury them, or dispose of them in their own way. (I once cycled 6 miles to the vet’s surgery with a dead cat, Purdy, in a plastic bag, tied to the back of my bike so the vet could dispose of her body).

Another thing to consider is that cat owners may not even consider their cat as missing for a couple of days. Although due to education and financial help from animal charities and organisations many domestic cats (in the UK) are neutered or spayed, they are still wanderers. (I wouldn’t consider one of my cats as missing, or look for them unless they had missed two feed times, they're fed once a day at approx 9pm).

I’ve also worked in a psychiatric hospital, (catering department) which had a large colony of cats. Apparently (the staff took delight in telling me this) pest control were called out every few years to shoot as many cats as they could find. If that’s true, and pest control do shoot colonies of unwanted feral cats that would be a more suitable source of dead cats than roadkill.

Emmily

Entry: How to skin a cat - A18190749
Author: SWL™ - U1775547

Hi Emmily

Thanks for your comments. I'd like to point out that I twice advised finding the owners in the same paragraph. However, I've highlighted that part in bold to further emphasise it.

Just to sort of posit an abstract point of view that I know will be disapproved of...

I know it's very important to do all the warnings for legality and good taste, but isn't there a point at which it's going a bit overboard, where it kind of subverts the actual content of the article? My opinion is that this entry should be allowed, but I know others might disagree, and there's at some degree a limit to what can and cannot be part of the EG. So if it can be in, are all the disclaimers necessary? Maybe one or two are all right, but isn't there a limit somewhere?

I apologize in advance for the incoherence of this post.

Hello there,

The disclaimers and so on on this, if it is to go into the Edited Guide are crucial. As this is such a potentially controversial subject, even if we settle matters here we still have to engage in consultation with BBC Editorial Policy.

Hope that helps,

h2g2 Editors

Can I get some help on wording an official disclaimer that would be acceptable to the Editorial Team?

I can't really go on adding disclaimers to every other line that may be deemed controversial after all.

We weren't suggesting a new disclaimer, SWL - just replying to echomikeromeo's point about disclaimers subverting the point of the Entry.

I like the vocabulary bit in the first half of the Entry .

And I don't think the disclaimers detract from the entry as a whole. A tricky bit of writing, nicely done.

A couple notes
I read the article because it was one of my dad's favorite sayings.
Anytime he tried to do something and failed he would shrug and say
"there's more than one way to skin a cat' and then he would change his method and usually suceed in what he was trying to do.
Secondly, I recently listened to the Directors comments of "Pirates of the Carribean" on DVD the director remarks at one point about the phrase "The Cat's out of the Bag." He went on to say that ships masters always carried a 'cat-o-nine tails' to whip people into shape. And that when this whip was removed from its bag the rule was that it must be used immediately. You could not change your mind and put it back in the bag for later. So It went on to mean The sailors crime has been discovered and now he must be punished for it.

This Entry has attracted a great deal of feedback, much of it positive, but interest seems to have waned lately. I doubt that the following suggestions will make any difference (apart from bumping up the thread), but isn't it ripe enough for picking?

Typos etc.

(flogged.)?

(erm, tautology is hardly a crime, but......how about something like 'Although the bag might appear to contain/hold a piglet,')

[Cat's Cradle]

(You could make the association much more obvious with a slightly fuller description of the game. For example, Dictionary.com: "cat's cradle
–noun 1. a children's game in which two players alternately stretch a looped string over their fingers in such a way as to produce different designs.
2. the intricate design formed by the string in this game.[Origin: 1760–70]")

[in Kilkenny, Ireland, bored soldiers]

[popularised]

[or upset, this is]

[attached]

[carcasses]

[cats']

(put to sleep)?

[its]


There is one (slang) definition of 'skin a cat' (in the Urban Dictionary) that just might not make it into the Edited Guide.......

Hello there all,

First of all - many apologies for the fact it's taken a bit of time to provide detailed feedback on this but it's been a bit hectic in the old Towers lately, and something like this deserves a lot of thought and care.

This article is obviously very well-written, but the subject matter does need to be handled very carefully and presentation is all-important. Obviously, you've been very accommodating with the disclaimers and suchlike, and we thank you for this. Just a few more points though:

- One of the things that makes h2g2 distinctive is the quirkier tone of the Entries and it's clear that this Entry has a twin scope - it's about expressions about cats and where they came from, as well as how to actually skin a cat. I think the juxtaposition of these two ideas, without explanation, could seem a bit confusing and might upset people as it could seem that we're dealing with it in a frivolous way. So - what I'd suggest is that the twin scope of the article is a bit clearer at the top.

- Replacing the word 'scenes' with the word 'descriptions.' (We'll probably mess with the disclaimer a bit in-house in any case for the sake of mobile).

- A brief explanation of why people might want to skin a cat would make the second bit seem a bit less creepy. Currently some people (certainly if accessing the site and therefore seeing it 'out of context') won't get the black humour and might see it as gratuitous.

Anyway - hope that helps. Thank you for your co-operation on this.

h2g2 Editors

Well, SWL, I had a go at recommending this last month. I've just gotten a rejection email but it didn't give any kind of explanation so I don't have any constructive information for you. I've replied to the mail asking for more information. If I hear anything I'll pass it along

Sorry!

I think the previous post explains what needs doing - sometimes there can be nothing in particular wrong with an Entry except for the general way in which it communicates the information. This Entry just needs a little bit of work, after which it will hopefully make it into the Edited Guide - it kinda deserves to just for the Now Wash Your Hands bit

I've been meaning to act on the recommendations above, but haven't got around to it. I will though !!

Welcome back to the thread, SWL.

Just wondering if some people might be upset by the last line of 'How to skin a catfish' ('Now the cat is ready to cook'), particularly if they merely skim through the Entry, not being able to stomach the preceding lines - which, let's face it, are pretty grim.

OK chaps - I've made some more changes in line with the recommendations. Will this fit the bill?

This is looking much better

start with the italicised bit and then the first header (we don't like an entry starting with a header )


'From being a figure of worship through being linked with witchcraft and nefarious practices to the loved family pet of today, cats have run the gamut of human reactions' --> this sounds a bit clumsy to me (maybe some commas, semi-colons?)


history, folklore and language --> comma after folklore

Cats and Language -- needs to be a header (actually all the bits in bold ought to be headers, I think)

Nowt much else I can see at the mo!

SWL, you seem to have ignored posting 151. No problem if you disagree with my suggestions , but the typos will have to be dealt with at some point.

Sorry !! I forgot. I'll attend to it this afternoon.