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The English word cat dates from before 900A.D. -
comes from the Old English words: catt (male) and catte (female). The
word comes from Old High-German / Old Norse words.
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A bag of cats - A bad-tempered person, such as: "She's a
real bag of cats this afternoon!"
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A
cat in gloves catches no mice - Sometimes you can't accomplish
a
goal by being careful and polite.
An idiom attributed to Ben
Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanac
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All
cats are gray in the dark - All persons are undistinguished
until
they have made a name.
English proverb
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Alley
cat - A stray or homeless cat.
The "alley" portion probably
refers to prostitutes, who at one point literally carried a mattress
around
with them. The "cat" probably alludes to the mating habits of
female
cats.
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| Another
breed of cat - something different from anything else |
As much chance as a wax cat in hell
- There is no chance at all.
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As
nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs - Someone
with
frayed nerves; jumpy
The allusion, of course,
is to the fact that cats don't like having their tails tromped
upon.
Where the phrase originated is unknown.
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Busier than a one-eyed cat watching two
mouse holes - Very busy,
almost to the point of being frantic
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| Busier
than a three legged cat in a dry sand box - Very busy, almost to the point of being
frantic |
Cat
around - To live an aimless, immoral life
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Cat
burglar - A nimble, silent, sneaky thief
Refers to the way cats are
able to sneak up and steal their prey
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Catcalls
- Booing bad acting
The expression goes back
to the theatre of Shakespear's time, when men criticized the acting by
making noises that sounded like a fence full of cats.
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Caterwauling - Making
harsh noises or cries
Probably came from Shakespeare's
play Twelfth Night: “What a caterwauling do you keep here!” (see
also Cat's melody)
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Cat-eyed
or cat eyes - Able to see in the dark
Coined in recognition of
a cat's ability to see in very low-light conditions.
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Cat
got your tongue - Why aren't you talking?
The phrase probably comes
from a custom in the Mideast hundreds of years ago, when it was common
to punish a thief by cutting off their right hand, and a liar by
ripping
out their tongue. These severed body parts were given to the
king's
pet cats as their daily food.
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Catgut
- What tennis rackets and violin strings are made of
The word came about when
the German word "kitgut" was translated into other languages. Kitgut
was
a small fiddle. The folk tale "cat and the fiddle" probably has
something
to do with the translation as well.
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Cat ice - Thin, dangerous ice
Ice that would not
support a cat, similar to the phrase "skating on thin ice."
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Cat-in-hell
chance
- No
likelihood of success
It originally
referred to the hopelessness of fighting with inadequate weapons.
(The complete phrase is: "No more chance than a cat in hell without
claws.")
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Catkins
- fluffy flower bracts of willow and birch trees
The catkins look like small
cats' tails. (Other plants refer to cats also: pussy willow
and cat tails.)
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| Catlap
- Usually weak tea or milk; something fit only for cats to drink |
Catnap
- Sleeping for a short period of time
Reference to the ability
of a cat to sleep frequently and lightly
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Cat
o'nine tails - A whip
In olden days, people were
flogged by a nasty device made up of three separate knottings of three
stands attached to the whip's handle. While the strands may have
been made from the hide of cats, the multiple of 9 had already been
associated
with cats; presumably if a person being flogged survived, they were as
lucky as a cat with 9 lives.
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Cat's
cradle - A string game played by children
In
early Europe, people believed a cat could increase the chances of
fertility in a young married couple. A month after the wedding, a
fertility rite was performed, where a cat was secured in a cradle, and
the cradle was then carried into the newlyweds' house and was then
rocked back and forth. This ensured an early pregnancy. The
string game creates what looks loosely like a cradle, and over time it
was called a 'cat's cradle.'
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Cat's
eye - Precious or semi-precious gems that have a changing
luster;
also road markers which reflect car lights (invented by Englishman
Percy
Shaw)
Refers to the coloring similar
to a cat's and to the reflecting of light in a cat's eyes
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Cat's
foot - To live under the cat's foot is to allow someone to
control
you.
Phrase was coined in reference
to the behavior of a cat with a mouse or other "toy."
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Cat's melody - Making harsh noises or
cries
Probably came from Shakespeare's
play Twelfth Night: “What a caterwauling do you keep here!” (see
also Caterwauling)
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Cat's meow - Something
considered to
be outstanding
Coined by American cartoonist
Thomas a. Dorgan (1877-1929) whose work appears in many American
newspapers. (see also Cat's whiskers)
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Cat's
pajamas - Something considered to
be outstanding
The term "cat's pajamas"
comes from E.B. Katz, an English tailor of the late 1700's and early
1800's, who made the finest silk pajamas for royalty and other wealth
patrons. Nothing like a cat nap in Kat'z pjs. (from the book,
"Cats
out of the Bag" compiled by Terry, Don and Ken Beck)
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Cat's paw - To be labeled a "cat's paw" means
someone has taken advantage
of you and you weren't smart enough to "cat"ch on.
The phrase has its origins
in an old folk tale in which a clever monkey tricks a cat into reaching
into a fireplace to pull out some roasting chestnuts. The monkey
got the chestnuts, but the cat got burned.
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Cat's whisker - before
diodes were invented, people made a kind of diode by touching
a long thin wire against a germanium crystal. This was enough to
rectify a radio signal to the point where it
could drive a single earpiece. The radio was a "crystal set" and
the long wire was the "cat's whisker".
Presumably, the wire
was nicknamed as such because it looked similar to cats' whiskers.
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Cat's whiskers - Something considered
to
be outstanding
Coined by American cartoonist
Thomas a. Dorgan (1877-1929) whose work appears in many American
newspapers. (see also Cat's meow)
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Catty
remarks - Comments made by a woman, usually about another woman
The phrase came about when
a man named Heywood, in the middle 1500's wrote "A woman hath nine
lives
like a cat." Soon, a woman who gossiped about other women was
said
to be making "catty" remarks about them.
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Catwalk
- A narrow walkway
Termed as such because of
a cat's ability to balance in very narrow places
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Clowder of cats - a group of cats
Clowder is the
ancient term for "clutter."
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Cool
cat - Someone who keeps up with the latest trends.
The term came about in
the Roaring 20's, and ita meaning hasn't changed. (see also Hep cat)
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Conceited as a barber's cat - very conceited
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Copycat
- A person who copies others
Probably a reference to
the way kittens learn by copying their mother's actions.
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Couldn't cuss a cat without getting fur in
your mouth - referring to
tight, cramped spaces
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Curiosity
killed the cat - Be cautious when investigating situations.
The saying originally was
"care kills a cat," and began in the 16th century. "Care" was a
warning
that worry is bad for your health and can lead to an early grave; the
phrase
was a recognition that cats seem to be very cautious and careful. Over
time, the word "care" evolved into "curiosity."
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Dead cat bounce - An automatic recovery in a financial
market.
Refers to the lore
that a cat 'bounces back' from death many times.
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Dead cat on the line - Something suspicious or 'fishy' is going on
Refers to fishing for
catfish. The lines are checked every day, so if there's a dead catfish
on the line, there's something wrong.
An alternative definition, sent in by a reader: Science Magazine,
about the early 1980's had and article about colloquialisms and the
like. The term Dead cat on the line is an expression from
the mid 70s and earlier when many folk had party lines still
for their telephone service. If someone was listening in you would hear
a click. The way one speaker would alert another to keep the
conversation off confidential subjects would be to say, "there's a dead
cat on the line."
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Dog my cats - An expression of astonishment, similar to
"Well,
what do you know!"
Possibly originally coined by O.Henry
(1862-1910) in his short story "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog."
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Dust kitten - A clump of dust/lint (similar to "dust
bunny")
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Enough
to make a cat laugh - Something that is ridiculously silly.
Cats don't laugh.
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Fat
cat - A wealthy and privileged person
Cats that are well-fed and
cared for are seldom skinny; hence, a person living the good life is a
fat cat.
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Fight like Kilkenny cats - To fight until both parties are destroyed
Lore
has it that in the ancient
town of Kilkenny, on the River Nore in south-east Ireland, bored
soldiers would tie two cats together for sport until they killed each
other. This is a
popularized limerick about Kilkenny cats:
"There wanst
was two cats of Kilkenny
Each thought
there was
one cat too many
So they fought
and they
fit
And they
scratched and
they bit
'Til instead of
two cats
there weren't any."
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Glamour
puss - A glamorous lady
Probably derived from the
ancient word "buss" which means "face," esp. the lips. Over time,
the word began to be pronounced as "puss," associating it with the cat.
A reference to the sleek pose of a cat
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Grinning
like a cheshire cat - Displaying a silly grin
From the Lewis Carroll novel
(written in 1865), Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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Having kittens/had kittens/has kittens
- A state of rage, similar
expression to having a fit, going ballistic, losing your temper
In medieval times it was believed that if
a pregnant woman was in pain, she had been cursed by a witch and had
kittens inside clawing at her belly. Witches, they believed,
could control cats, and could eliminate the kittens. Since a
woman believing she was going to give birth to a litter of kittens
would become hysterical, the phrase has, over time, come to mean being
in an angry panic.
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Hellcat
- A bad-tempered woman
Refers to the hissing and
spitting of an angry feline
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Hep cat - Someone who keeps up with the
latest trends.
The term came about in
the Roaring 20's, and its meaning hasn't changed. (see also Cool cat)
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High as the hair on a cat's back - Very expensive
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Honest
as the cat when the meat's out of reach - Will
not steal if he's likely to be caught.
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Hotter than a six peckered alley cat
- A person of loose morals
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I
smell a rat - Thinking there is something hidden or concealed
The allusion, according
to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, is to a cat
smelling
a rat.
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It's
raining cats and dogs - It's raining very hard
The dog, an attendant of
the storm king Odin, was a symbol of wind. Cats came to symbolize
down-pouring
rain, and dogs to symbolize strong gusts of wind. A
very heavy storm, therefore, indicated that both cats and dogs were
involved.
Another explanation is that the phrase came about in early 17th-century
London, when cats hunted mice on the rooftops - during a rainstorm, the
cats were washed off the roofs and fell on passersby.
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Keep no more cats then will catch mice
- Don't surround yourself with
people who will be dependent on you.
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Let
sleeping cats lie - Leave things as they are
A French proverb
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Like a cat on hot bricks - Someone
with frayed nerves; jumpy
A similar English phrase is "Nimble as a cat on a hot
bake-stone or "like a cat on a
hot tin roof,"
which means in a hurry to get away (a bake-stone was a large stone on
which
bread was baked).
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Like a cat on a hot tin roof -
Someone with frayed nerves; jumpy
The phrase originated in
Tennessee Williams' play of the same name. As then, it indicates
someone who is jumpy - behaving like a cat would if they were on a hot
tin roof. A similar English phrase is "Nimble as a cat on a hot
bake-stone or "a cat on hot bricks,"
which means in a hurry to get away
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Like
cats and dogs - Usually,
quarreling viciously (as in "fighting like cats and dogs")
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| Like herding cats - An effort that will likely be
futile or at
least
very, very difficult to accomplish. |
| Looking
like a cat that swallowed a canary -
Displaying
a self-satisfied grin |
Look
what the cat dragged in - A slightly derogatory comment on
someone's
arrival
Origin unknown, but an obvious
reference to cats' tendency to bring home its prey, tattered and torn
after
"playing" with it for a while.
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Make
the fur fly - Start a fight
Possibly
a reference to the nursery rhyme The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat;
certainly
a reference to a cat and dog fighting.
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Morals of an alley cat and scruples of a
snake - An amoral,
unscrupulous person
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Playing
cat and mouse - Playing a game of strategy and stealth, or
playing in a cruel or teasing way.
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Pussyfooting
around - To
tread or move warily or stealthily or to refrain from committing oneself
This phrase started out
as a comment that cats are stealthy and somewhat sneaky when hunting. The term is American
in origin and dates to at least 1893.
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Put
the cat among the pigeons - A British term which means to cause
an enormous fight or flap, usually by revealing a controversial fact or
secret.
When Britain governed India,
a popular pasttime was to put a wild cat in a pen with pigeons - bets
were
then taken to see how many birds the cat would bring down with one
paw-swipe.
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Rub
someone's fur the wrong way - To irritate or upset someone
Reference to the annoyance
a cat displays if his fur is stroked backwards.
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Scaredy-cat
/ Fraidy cat - A person who won't act on a dare, or who is
afraid
to try something new.
The phrase was coined in
recognition of a cat's trait of not standing up against a dog many
times
its size.
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See
which way the cat jumps - Wait and see what happens
A cruel sport in the olden
days was to place a cat in a tree as a target; the "sportsman" would
wait
to see which way the cat jumped before pulling the trigger.
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She's the cat's
mother - A rebuke
A rebuke to someone
who refers to a woman as 'she' instead of by her name, either formal or
informal. The 'she' in the phrase is the female of a cat, the male
being a 'tom', and is not to be applied to a woman when you're in her
company.
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Sitting
in the cat bird seat - Being in an advantageous position
Phrase coined by Red Barber
(a sports announcer) by James Thurber in his book, The Catbird Seat.
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Sourpuss
- Someone who is cranky
Probably derived from the
ancient word "buss" which means "face," esp. the lips. Over time,
the word began to be pronounced as "puss," associating it with the cat.
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Sweeten the kitty - Increase the amount
In faro, the "tiger"
was the bank of the house. Gamblers called the tiger a kitty, and thus
"kitty" became the name for the payout in various card games.
Sweetening or fattening the kitty, then, means increasing the pot or
improving the deal.
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Tabby
- A domestic cat with a striped and mottled coat
The silks created by weavers
in Baghdad, Iraq, were inspired by the varied colors and markings of
cat
coats. These fabrics were called "tabby" by European traders.
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The
cat may look at a king - An insolent remark of insubordination,
meaning, "I am as good as you".
An English proverb, or possibly
originated from the nursery rhyme.
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The
cat's out of the bag - To pass along a secret.
In medieval England, piglets
were sold in the open marketplace. The seller usually kept the
pig
in a bag, so it would be easier for the buyer to take it home.
But
shady sellers often tried to trick their buyers by putting a large cat
in the bag. If a shrewd shopper looked in the bag - then the cat
was literally out of the bag. (By the way, the bag was called a
"poke,"
which is likely where the phrase "a pig in a poke," which nowadays
means
buying an unknown, came from.)
An additional interpretation was submitted by a reader:
In nautical
lore, a cat-o-nine had to be made new for each
flogging. The whip was made, then put into a bag and held while
the charges were listed. Then, just before the flogging, the cat
would be brought out of the bag. In this usage, the phrase "the
cat's out of the bag" meant something akin to "punishment is about to
begin" or "the belt's off."
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There's
more than one way to skin a cat - There is more than one way to
accomplish a task.
The reference is to preparing
a catfish (named as such because of its long whiskers) for cooking,
which
must be skinned because the skin is tough.
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There's
not enough room to swing a cat - The room is very cramped and
crowded.
In the olden days, sailors
were punished by being whipped with a cat o'nine tails (see above).
Below
deck, there wasn't enough room to lash the whip, so the punishment was
given on deck, where there was "enough room to swing the cat."
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To
bell a cat - To do the impossible. It is easily
suggested,
but once suggested, no one will volunteer to do it.
From Aesop's fable, The
Belling of the Cat
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To
get one's back up - Showing anger or annoyance
The allusion is to a cat,
which sets its back up when attacked by a dog or other animal.
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To
live a cat and dog life - To always be arguing
Phrase was coined by Carlysle
in his book Frederick the Great: “There will be jealousies, and
a cat-and-dog life over yonder worse than ever.”
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Tomcat
- A male who enjoys the favors of many women.
The expression comes from
a book written in the mid-1700s in England called The Life and
Adventures
of a Cat. The "hero" of the book, a male cat who enjoyed the
favors of many female cats, was named Tom.
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Walk like a cat on eggs - Tread very lightly
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Walk the cat back - To attempt to understand the true nature
of a situation by reconstructing events chronologically from the
present to the past
Earliest citation 'I
find it inconceivable that anybody could walk the cat back,' lamented
Mr. Petty," The New York Times article by Robert A. Bennett, February
19, 1984
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Weak as a cat - Very weak, ineffective.
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| When
the cat's away, the mice will play - Without supervision,
people
misbehave. |
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| Idioms: |
a manner of speaking
that is natural to native speakers of a language. |
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See also
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Taglines
and Quotes and Folklore, Superstitions, and Proverbs |
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Tagline: |
an ending line that
makes a point. |
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Folklore:
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the traditional
beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally. |
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Superstition: |
an irrational belief
arising from ignorance or fear. |
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Proverb: |
old and popular
saying that illustrates something such as a basic truth or a practical
precept. |
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