So it was 1946 and I was in first grade in P. S. 217 and I must have been throwing my massive seven-year-old weight around because one of the "class mothers" took me aside and accused me of quote picking on unquote her dear son Michael who was at least six inches taller than poor poor pitiful skinny me. I remember that I was astonished and taken aback but that I was still in my own head poised enough to think, what a jerk Michael must be to tell on me to his mother — although frankly I don't know now and didn't know then what I could have done to earn her enmity or deserve the reproach. I was innocent! What I remember most clearly is that I was rendered quite speechless when Michael's mommy asked an explanation or apology from me and especially that she two or several times demanded of me, scornfully, "what's the matter, cat's got your tongue? Cat's got your tongue?" I had never heard that expression before and didn't know what it meant, but it sure added a deal of mystery to the confrontation. My tongue was still in my mouth and not in the possession of some feline and I was neither clever enough nor bold enough to stick it out at her.
What does it mean, "Cat's got your tongue." It's still a mystery to me even today. Interestingly enough, the expression isn't of ancient origin and apparently dropped to earth only in the late nineteenth century. It's a puzzle, though. Why a cat? But then, why "cat's pajamas?" Why "cat o' nine tails?" Why "cat's meow?"
In any case, I was nonplussed that Michael's mommy spoke to me so obscurely and I was indignant to be accused of misbehavior. In fact, sixty plus years later I'm still indignant.
Is it possible that the cat-and-tongue episode stimulated my interest in language?
I really don't know why this antique event swam out of the dark backward and abysm of the past. Just yesterday, when I mentioned it to Mrs Dr. Metablog, she recalled that one day, also in 1946, when she was in elementary school and she was not sitting as still as we were then expected to sit, she was accused of having "ants in her pants." She's indignant.
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