Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for December 27, 2022

And that’s how cats get names, folks!

And now Ora has her name.

So… what did Ora Zella suddenly get excited about in frame 1? Inquiring minds want to know! ;-)

I thought yesterday’s last panel looked like Ora heard that!

For anyone who isn’t familiar with that particular Louie Anderson routine (like me): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01hmev-JbQc

And thus a tiny child gets her name. I mean we’ve been using it for weeks but it’s easier than saying “Girl Child” or “boy child”. I still say Crockpot was the superior name, but eh a cat this much needs two names, so fair enough.

Quick work on that research there, Burt!

I once called a cat after a chacter from The Sopranos, which the censors on GoComics will not let me type out, (Big Pu$$y).

My dearly departed tuxie girl took the longest time to name. We were leaning towards Little Bit since she was such a tiny thing, but it didn’t seem to quite fit. Then one day, Mom and I and Little Bit were watching a rerun of Gunsmoke. Marshall Dillon walked into the Long Branch Saloon. Somebody called out the name Miss Kitty. I can’t remember now if it was Marshall Dillon or a customer. Little Bit jumped off the couch and ran to the TV meowing as if answering the call. No more Little Bit. From that day forward, she was Miss Kitty!

So she’s a Comic’s character?

I loved Louie from the first I saw him. I got to see him live. Whenever I fart when I pee I think of Louie and his dad.

And there it is.

Mine are named for treecats in the Honor Harrington novels. Bleek!

Meanwhile, Back on the Nile

Lupinium: Puck, did you hear something?

Puckmosis: Awww, I was having a ham and bacon dream. Did you have to wake me?

Lupinium: Boy, did you wake up grumpy.

Puckmosis: No, Elvis is still sound asleep.

Lupinium: I saw a shadow, over by the scroll room door.

Puckmosis: It looks like it’s Iggy.

Iggy: Some looking for me?

Lupinium: That’s not you over by the scroll room?

Iggy: I don’t think so. But I think I might know who it is. Hey, Cuz!

New Cat: Iggy, is that you?

Iggy: Meet my cousin, Ziggy Starcrossed!

There it is! My Tigger got her name because when she was a kitten, she would bounce around like the tiger in, Winnie The Pooh!

Our youngest, Susanna, got her name from here in the Orb.

Look, even her (little pointy cat) tail is excited!

Did Goldie finish her snack and her book?

Anderson’s standup was great until you learned that his father was an abusive alcoholic. Then that kind of taints some of the bits.

There we go, both new kitties finally have names. Welcome to the family, Iggy and Ora Zella. By this strip, I suppose we could say Burt was technically the first to name her.

I assumed that was where the name came from, but officially crediting Louie Anderson is a nice touch.

One of my cats is Lotto. Not because of the jackpot, because I found him in a vacant lot, and when the vet asked me his name he didn’t have one so that’s what I said. However, I ALSO hit the jackpot with him. And it sounds like a name my grandfather might have come up with. And it also sounds like the 6th Marx Brother. So it’s perfect.

Mittens came with her name from a rescue group.

Our daughter named Belle.

Holly Bear because she came at Christmas time, and she looked like a little round bear.

Hamilton was initially named Adams. But Marie and I decided he was named after the wrong founding father.

Finally, Holmes was named at the shelter, and we kept it, although Alexandria insists on calling him, Sherlock.

I was wondering where the name Ora Zella came from (I suppose I could have done a search, but I made my choice) and now I know!

Our cats are all named after amplifiers. My husband is a guitar player. Cooper is named for the inventor of “tiny terror” Orange amps. At 15 he’s a big boy and no longer a terror, lol. Next was Fender, he the most loving cat ever. He left us much, much too soon at 6 years old. Fractal, our “kitten” is 5 years old. I doubt he will ever grow up, there’s a lot of Lupin in him. He makes us laugh every day. He’s named for Fractal Audio, maker of Ave-FX, an amp modeler. His nickname is Wacky Fracky. He lives up to it,

As a child, I named my first cat Cinderella because her coloring made her look like a girl who slept in ashes. Besides, I loved the movie. When we took her to the vet, we learned that she was a he but we kept the name.

Somewhere in heaven, this made Louie and Ora Zella Anderson smile.

RIP, Louie Anderson.

loved Louis!

ANDERSON: Did you ever finish a meal, you’re eating the dessert, all of a sudden, your mom stands up in a panic? The Cranberries – get them.

They’re on the bottom shelf. Mom, we’re eating pie.

Put some cranberries.

I read that as Laurie Anderson for a moment and got terribly confused.

Thank you, Burt. Someone had to say it.

If Johnny Depp were a hundred yards away and I called, he would come running at a dead sprint. Suddenly, about 20 feet away, he would remember he was a cat and change into a slow saunter. I would try to meet him halfway at that point to show that I understood. But he wasn’t fooling anybody. :)

I wonder if torties come with turn keys, they need to do some unwinding. :-)

We can always count on Burt.

But what is her effably ineffable name?

Seriously, I wonder what they shorten Ora Zella to for everyday use.

We try to name cats after some characteristic of appearance or character. Waffle looked like one, and never could make up his mind (those baffling hospital corners.) 8-ball is obvious. MrrrCavity after his escape ability and the only sound he made as a feral. Holly Stein after the variety of cow because she’s marked like one. We often give our cats secondary names: 8-ball is Toebiter, Tenzing Norcat, Little Guy, Little Bear, and Stealth Cat. Waffle was Fuzzmuffin Cuddlebunch and Viking Longwaffle. MrrrCavity is Hobbit Cat. Holly Stein is “la Plume” or “la Floof.” Fluffmuffin is a possibility.

AHA!

I remember that act. We ysed to do it every year when the cranberries came out.

https://www.uexpress.com/life/dearabby/2022/12/27 Letter 2

And now we know.

Now that they have names, you HAVE to keep ’em!

I have to apologize. I forgot to wish everyone a Happy Boxing Day yesterday.

My link to BCN takes me to the “Overview” window, where the middle two frames are a bit enlarged. When I saw that, I thought the woman was talking to the bookstore woman in the third panel. The way the hands are placed, I didn’t notice the facial hair. I was surprised to find out it was the man.

OT:

The road in front of my house is finally clear of all snow and ice. It was warm enough outside that I could clear the snow off my car. I didn’t go anywhere, but it’s such a relief to know that I could go somewhere if I needed to. The porch steps and sidewalk are still snow covered, but I can get up and down the hill with my Yaktrax. I’ll probably try to get to a grocery store tomorrow. I’m down to my last sack of bird seed.

Aaaand there goes joking Ora Z is a werewolf. Sigh

When I got my peach tortie, she was 4 weeks old; I picked her up from a garage owner who’d given away her littermates already. My mother was visiting, and when I got home she took one look at the tortie kitten with the huge green eyes and exclaimed, “Oh, she’s precious!” And “Precious” she was named thereafter.

Years after Precious had established her imperious autocracy, I found a month-old tuxedo kitten on the L.A. Harbor Freeway. Intending to take him to a no-kill shelter, I was maneuvered by circumstances to take him to a vet instead. As she cleaned up the flea-infested, dirty, eye-and-chest-infected baby with the rusty-squeak mew, she asked if I had a name for him. “I didn’t even know I was keeping him till now!” I responded. “Well,” and she glanced down at the mite on the table, “how about ‘Lucky’?” And the kitten raised his head to her as if to say, “Yes?” He came to that name, and I never tried another.

Cats know their names, and will always let us know if they’re correct. :)

(<— avatar) We named our Nellie after my father’s airplane in WWII. He flew copilot in a two-seater Beechcraft AT-7, on search and rescue duty way up in Alaska during the war. I found out fairly recently that the original “Nellie” got her name from the base she was stationed at, Fort Nelson, B.C.