Let the Cat Die

"Let the cat die." This is the phrase that my dad used over a month ago while we were pushing my nephew on a swing. My dad is full of expressions/phrases that no normal person has ever heard of....perhaps this is a generational thing, but I honestly thought that he was making this one up.

Apparently this is a phrase that he heard growing up in reference to letting a swing stop on its own. I thought that he was making it up. I just shook my head and laughed.

When my Aunt Pat, my dad's sister, came to town a few weeks ago I asked her if she had ever heard of this phrase. She didn't remember it at first, but after my dad gave a few hints she said that she remembered it too. I consider my Aunt Pat to be a reputable source, so I decided that the phrase must be real.

Today was a beautiful day so I took the kids out to the swings on our back porch. I started to take some pictures of the kids swinging and began to ponder the phrase "let the cat die". As time drew near for us to go in I gave them both one final push and then said "Ok guys, we are going to let the cat die." Then I thought, if I am going to use this phrase I better know where it came from because one day my kids are going to ask me, just like I had asked my dad. I decided that I needed to do some in depth research on this phrase, so I googled it.

Among the blogs about people losing their beloved pets I found a website of a guy who researches the origins of strange phrases/expressions. And there it was- "let the cat die".

Here is what someone wrote about the expression:

I remembered an odd phrase about swinging we used growing up. "Let the cat die" – which means stop pumping your legs and let the swing stop, and then we'll go home. Listening to these swings, the phrase made sense – these swings sounded like a cat, creaking with high-pitched mews, short and separated, rather than the usual long, continuous, low creaks.

What a great, descriptive expression! Sorry I doubted you Dad, you were right. And now all of the world (i.e. the five people that read this blog) know that you were right!

Atticus

Isaiah

Our final push before we "let the cat die"