How could I not end the week with a котик?
смешной котик
January 17, 2014 • 8:00 pm
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Be afwaid, be vewy, vewy afwaid!
Don’t blink!
Peeping Tomcat?
Kotik looks pretty scared. What did he see?
The expression on that cat’s face is hilarious! 😀
” смешной котик ” = Russian for “funny cat,” not ? !
The suddenness in the changing of iris – and pupil – reactivity in felids’ eyeballs is also mighty funny !
Blue
That is one of my favorite things to observe as well. When I play with my cat I always know ahead of time when she is going to pounce. Because about a second before she does the pupils contract suddenly.
The cat seems to be doing a flehmen response, Maybe human sex the kitteh never experienced before has recently happened.
@6:
The precise meaning is “funny little tomcat”.
I think the more accurate translation is “funny kitty.”
Russian for “kitty” is more like киска.
“киска” = “giggles” ?
Well, yes, yes o’course, with this specific felid video: a passel of giggles ! — all set to soft operatic tunes wafting up from kitty – cat’s bedside !
Blue
I think киска would also be “kitty.” The thing is that these terms are not easily translatable, just as “kitty-cat, “pussy-cat” and “kitty” can’t be translated into Russian in a way that would distinguish one from the other or would lead one to figure out the original word. We have our own little nicknames for cats and Russians have theirs, but I don’t think there is a one-to-one translation for them. The thing is that “tomcat” is rarely used nowadays, at least in America, so even if that is a correct translation, it comes across as unintentionally old fashioned in English. It would be like translating the Russian word for “student” as “pupil.” It’s not inaccurate, but nobody says “pupil” anymore. Anyway, translation is an art as much as a science, so we can certainly come to different conclusions (for example, I’m not sure if “silly kitty” would not be a better translation). Wow, I can’t believe I wrote this much about translating two words.
That is certainly true, my version is not any good as a title for the video. “Kitty” seems much more adequate, but it is not exact translation. “Kotik” in Russian is always a he-cat, for starters. As for “silly”, it is definitely not good, because it has a connotation of “stupid” or “unintelligent”. Russian “smeshnoy” has nothing of that, it just means “that makes you smile or laugh”.
Yes, you’re probably right about “silly,” though I do think it can fit in certain circumstances. For example, Americans may be more likely to say to their pets, “Oh, you’re so silly” as opposed to “Oh, you’re so funny,” as if “funny” implies intent on the part of the animal to make the owner laugh, while “silly” becomes a specific type of funny. Of course, they say it the other way too. And, yes, your “tomcat” does address the issue of the cat’s sex, which you don’t usually get in English, as terms like “kitty” or “doggy” are sexless.
Indeed – in our family we call our cats koshka.
Or, you could have ended the week with the story of an Italian nun who just had a baby and named it after the Pope:
http://news.yahoo.com/39-nun-gives-birth-italy-names-baby-francis-190717350.html
You cannot make this stuff up.
I like that cat better!
Well, they both made me laugh, so…either or.
And 3.5 Kg ain’t 9 lbs!
7.7 vs. 9 = close enough for who it’s for?
She who didn’t even know she was preggers?? No. A 9 lb baby is considerably bigger than a 7.7 lb one and babies’ weights are always measured in either lbs and oz or in grams.
Actually, in kilograms and grams. 🙂
Yes, I guess sometimes Kg and g. My kids’ birth certificates had it just in grams ( thousands of them, of course):-). I happened to look at the certs recently and was sort of surprised by this.
She ‘didn’t know she was pregnant’. Heaven be praised, it’s another Immaculate Conception!
Her fellow nuns were ‘very surprised’. Well, yes, they would be, wouldn’t they?
I must admit I laughed too.
Sweet!
In Soviet Russia, cat watches YOU!
That’s so cute!
The House of the Rising Cat.
… … for those of Us Readers ” mature enough ” to recall that song and its title, its parody is p.u.r.r.f.e.c.t. !
+1
Nice!
The cat’s attention is fixed on some toy or something that the camera operator is slowly moving around. You can just catch a quick out-of-focus glimpse of it on the left side of the frame at one point.
Baihu’s eyes get wide like that when he’s stalking things, too. Lets more light in.
b&
Not that I don’t like your explanation, but I think that object passing through the top left hand corner near the end is just someone’s elbow. This thoroughly loveable Kotik seems to be easily frightened or cautious, poor thing.