What Is The Origin Of "Cat Got Your Tongue?"
by Laura French

Most children get this question posed to them at some point by an adult interrogator. The context is always that the child is not speaking up when some response is called for. Sometimes, the child is just being shy in a social situation. Other times, the child is understandably reluctant to confess to mischief. The origins of this phrase are the subject of lots of debate.

One theory is that the "cat" here is a "cat o' nine tails," a kind of whip that was used for punishing British sailors. If a commanding officer asked a question that the sailor knew could lead to punishment, he might refuse to answer for fear of "the cat." This explanation seems awkward. Why would the phrase "cat got your tongue?" emerge, rather than "are you scared of the cat? or some such. Why, too, would the phrase be so commonly associated with children? A poster at www.phrases.org/uk refers to this theory as CANOE-"conspiracy to attribute nautical origins to everything."

Another theory is that during the Middle Ages, it was believed that witches could command their cats to steal the tongues of their enemies. However, the earliest written use of the phrase, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, was in 1911.

Personally, I like the straightforward explanation: Cats who are doing their job as mousers can often be seen carrying objects about the size of a human tongue.

Laura French is a freelance writer who lives in Roseville with three cats - Gracie, Tennessee Tuxedo and his pal Chumley, and Sofie, whose breed(s) will forever remain a mystery.