[Vocabulary] Boots

Hello everyone!

It has been several times that I heard the cat's name "Boots" (it's from the U.S. sitcoms and well, I'm not sure if I spell it correctly).

Is it common to name a cat Boots? (I understand it's a tomcat name, right?)
Why Boots? Any ideas of the origin of the name?


Thank you!

I thought this is a forum on English, not on cats.

tedtmc said:

I thought this is a forum on English, not on cats.

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I'm asking about the etymology of the name Boots. Is it sufficiently linguistic for you?;-)

It's as good a name as any other. Many cats have different colored fur at the bottoms of their paws (than the rest of the paw) that gives the illusion that they are wearing socks or mittens or boots on the end of their "feet."

Bill Clinton's cat in the White House was named "Socks."

As I have no wished to be banned for posting inappropriate words, I'll refrain from telling you what my cat is called.

5jj said:

As I have no wished to be banned for posting inappropriate words, I'll refrain from telling you what my cat is called.

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Reminds me of the dog from The Jerk.

See also:

Puss in Boots (French fairy tale, original?)

Puss in Boots (Recent film)

Thank you guys a lot! It is a lot of fun!

In Russia we do not have any of these associations in naming cats.
It was absolutely strange for me to hear such a name as Boots.

Puss in Boots is well known in Russia because of the book and a cartoon (created long ago, somewhere in the 1980's).
However, I've never met a cat named after the Puss in Boots, well, maybe because it's
not that well soundning in Russian.

Thanks again to everyone!

And I think "Mittens" is probably among the most common cat names.

It's not like they come when they're called. Unless their name sounds like food hitting a bowl.

I agree with Bob Smith that "Boots" as a name for a cat probably originated from the fairy tale, and more recently gained popularity with the Shrek films.

Personal pet-naming anecdote: Back in 1999 Mr. Ouisch and I adopted a kitten who was very skittish and nervous. At the time we were both big South Park fans and noted that the character named Tweak who drank too much coffee was just as jittery and nervous as our kitten, so we christened him "Tweak." Little did we know that "tweak" and "tweaker" were also slang terms for folks who abused methamphetamine. (PS Tweak has calmed down considerably in her old age, but we still get weird looks at the vet's office when her name is called out in the lobby.)

Heard about the chap who named his cat 'Seafer'? His dog was 'Deefer'



(C for cat, D for dog)

There is one inetersting thing that I noticed and it's that in diferent countries cats are called in different ways. It looks like cats do not understand foreigners when the cats are called.

At one time in Korea I tried calling a cat, who was lying on the grass on a slope of a hill. The first thing I did was to say "kis-kis", which is the Russian way to call cats. No response! My friend, a Korean guy, used his way to call the cat -- it was a lot different from mine, just like clicking with his tongue - and look, the cat lazily raised its head and looked at us as if asking: "What do you want again?"

I also heard a "kis-kis" story and it was told to our group in University. The teacher of our group was in England at one time and tried the Russian way to call a cat, on which his friend, an Englishman, told him: "It's not a "kiss"! It's a CAT!"

I knew of a dog called Deoge (emphasise on the o, like de-OH-gee) :roll: