How much do you know about cats? Take the BBC’s quiz

June 13, 2017 • 2:30 pm

There are nine questions, and not all of them are easy. Play here; it will take only about 3 minutes.

I did well! My score:

h/t: Jiten (who got 4/9 and the note that his “pussy powers are low” (he’s no Trump!) On the other hand, I’m not sure that Brits know what Americans mean by “pussy”.

66 thoughts on “How much do you know about cats? Take the BBC’s quiz”

    1. Heh, I never thought about it, but that is pretty hilarious from a Brit’s perspective (I only know a lot about British word usage because I watch a ton of British TV and film)

  4. 6 of 9.
    10) When your cat walks up your chest at 5:00am and smacks you in the face, does it mean:
    a. Bowl is empty.
    b. My other human left too early.
    c. Your blankets are lumpy.
    d. Wake up, it’s time to play for 5 minutes.

  5. Your Result
    6/9
    Well done! You should be feline good. Give yourself a treat by listening to The Cat Who Came Back.

    I think I’m going to be on Coco Chanel’s shit list. Though I got 6 correct I really only knew 3 and had to guess on the rest.

    What the hell do they call a group of cats?

    *googles*

    A clowder? A variant of clodder, a clotted mass, to clot, coagulate?!?! I protest in the name of my cat!!

    1. Same here.

      But about half of these questions don’t test your knowledge of cats; they test your knowledge of human customs and linguistic trivia.

        1. OK, but I would still prefer my veterinarian to know more about cats than about Egyptians.

    2. Ditto! Interesting…I guessed the cat got elected, but the right answer was, “stood for election.”

  10. I got 8 of 9. Missed number 5 on the girls named for a cat Egypt. Had a bit of help from the cat expert in the family.

      2. In a sense that cats can’t answer most of the
        questions and they don’t care.

  12. 8/9 here also. I suspect my multiple-choice-test-taking skills dominated my knowledge of cats.

    That British shorthair is the spitting image of my cat.

  13. 6/9 including a couple of lucky guesses (and a couple that weren’t as lucky).

  14. I guessed on every one and got 7/9. I don’t understand that. I was prepared to miss them all. Maybe I should shave my eyebrows about it.

  16. 7/9 got the group name wrong – which I should have known, and missed the election news story.

    Yes, Brits know the various connotations of pussy.

  20. 9 out of 10 — missed number 5. Loved that cat photos especially the tabby point Siamese. We once had once named Nefertiti who was lovely. She died at age 17 and in buried the our back yard that she loved.

  21. Brits definitely know what Americans mean by pussy as evidenced by Ian Fleming’s novel “Goldfinger”.

    Wikipedia notes
    “Words referring to cats are used as vulgar slang for female genitals in some other European languages as well.
    Examples include German Muschi (literally “house cat”),[15] French chatte (“female cat”, also used to refer to sexual intercourse),[16] and Dutch poes (“puss”)”

  24. 7/9 guessed 4. First guessed shave off eyebrows and changed…and guessed wrong on Miw.

  25. 7/9. guessed no’s 5 & 9 wrong. Also 2 good guesses.
    I was convinced there would be a question about ancient Egyptian cats being Tabbies. Something that doesn’t cease to amaze me: the fact that we know this via genetics, despite the fact that all these statues look so smooth.

  27. Any doubt about the British understanding of”pussy” should be quashed by Mrs Slocombe on the Brit sitcom “Are You Being Served”!

  28. Yes, we do know that meaning! It’s good to know it’s not come up in conversation for you.

  29. I got 8 out of 9 as well! Missed the name that Egyptians gave based on cats.

    Not bad. I guessed a lot of them but knew a few for sure.

  31. Whoopee — 9/9. Admittedly with a little luck & some deductions…
    If anyone on the planet was unaware of the non-feline meaning of “pussy”, Donald Trump has taken care of that.

  35. 7/9. I knew the answers to two of the questions because they were about mammalian/vertebrate biology, not specific to cats.

    1. Also, I’m pretty sure I was exposed to the Egyptian feline information through the cat mummy exhibits at the British Museum. Perhaps someone in London can confirm. 😉

  37. Anybody who answered “posse” for question 1 should award themselves a point. A Google search for “a posse of cats” gets nearly as many hits (29,300) as “a clowder of cats” (35,300). So as a matter of empirical fact, a group of cats is indeed called a posse roughly as often as it’s called a clowder.

    1. I was confused by that question. I have heard “a posse of cats” more than once but have never heard of “a clowder of cats.”

  38. That was almost trivial pursuit. Interesting to know, but of no practical use to cat owners, with maybe two exceptions. Bah, humbug. (4/9 with three correct guesses)

  41. 6/9.

    Yes, we do know what “pussy” means! Would Americans know what I mean if I say that years ago I used to have 20 fags a day; or that at dinner-time I sometimes go for a couple of faggots with gravy?

    1. “Fags” seems to be pretty well known by Americans in my experience.

      Though I’ve had no direct experience of “faggots with gravy” (a band name possibly?) I know that they are basically offal meatballs. Learned that about 25 years ago from a Welshman that worked for me. I doubt many Americans know what that means though. Probably think that it is some perverted porn term.

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