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Don’t be so beastly!
Don’t be so beastly!
There was a time when you could sing, ‘I love little pussy, her coat is so warm’ without fear of innuendo. There was no pun intended when Edward Lear wrote, ‘O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love, what a beautiful Pussy you are.’ Puss or pussy has been the nursery term for a cat since the early 16th century. For almost as long, of course, it has also been used to denote sexual intercourse, a woman and female genitalia. (It is safe to assume, for example, that the toast, ‘Here’s a health to thee, to Pusse and to good company’, recorded in 1664, was not a tribute to Tibbles.) But not everyone was familiar with tavern slang, and pussy remained a term of endearment for women, as well as cats, well into the 19th century.
[This interesting articles will explain why searching for The Owl and the Pussy-cat with a child on your lap is not a good idea.]
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian
