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

babel fish got it wrong it seems...

hi Researcher 'Deja Vu'... looking for whisky?!...



i had an explanation for the cat question but i don't think it adds up... "getting one's tongue trapped in a catapult.."?! naaaaah... can't be right...




loup

The concise Oxford dictionary describes this phrase as colloquial, but does not shed any light on its origin. None of my other reference books mention it at all.

hhhmmm....no definitive answers yet, so I suppose speculation can be considered.

I think it may have something to do with the old wives' tale of the cat taking a sleeping babys' breath.
That is an intinctive thing in cats....breath smell...eeerrrmmm...shall I say, is not wonderful(especially while sleeping)! Cats tend to be drawn toward the mouth of any sleeping human(hey, tuna don't smell wonderful, either)

Could it be that a connection came up between cats sniffing sleeping humans' mouths and the chance they could have snapped off the tounge while there...thus leaving one "speechless"?

Not meant to be literal at the time, just a dirision. It made sense, caught on, and we still use it today.


OK. Maybe a farflung theory, but a thought.

NM