Littermate of Mitten, Brand X stands out in catdom for his name. See, I had named the black dog Blackie (hey, I was seven; I hadn’t reached my creative peak yet), and Darrell had named the mittened cat Mitten, so Roger was obliged to do what he could to fight against the appalling tendency to Pedestrian Pet Names that was threatening to become permanently installed.
With cats since, I’ve always been conscientious about imagining the best cat name possible. Sometimes I’ve considered for weeks. Once I had to do research. And sometimes I’ve had to change when the cat acquired just didn’t fit. Usually the cat came pre-named and I let it be.
Brand X was an excellent cat, though image possibly had something to do with it. Cool vs ordinary; we’re so easily influenced. Like Mitten, he disappeared one day some months after his arrival.
With cats since, I’ve always been conscientious about imagining the best cat name possible. Sometimes I’ve considered for weeks. Once I had to do research. And sometimes I’ve had to change when the cat acquired just didn’t fit. Usually the cat came pre-named and I let it be.
Brand X was an excellent cat, though image possibly had something to do with it. Cool vs ordinary; we’re so easily influenced. Like Mitten, he disappeared one day some months after his arrival.
Adieu, Brand X.
2 comments:
I read somewhere that cats respond to explosive vowel sounds like b,t, p, d, even k and also to hissing, buzzing sounds like zz, ss, sh. Thus I named a cat Prospect and our present one is Lizzie, sometimes known as "cat". I address all cats with the sound wuzzbuzz, which often attracts their disdainful attention.
I've never tried 'wuzzbuzz' on my cats, but saying "Sienne!", with lots of "S" she knows she's being bad.
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