Carmichael wrote:

> Hello Ito, I am just speaking off the top of my head, but I think the "grin like
> a Cheshire cat" comes from Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's, aka as Lewis Carroll,
> Alice's Adventures  In Wonderland).

According to Hendrickson's _Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins_
this expression was first used by the pseudonymous British satirist
Peter Pindar (John Wolcot) in the late 18th Century, meaning "a broad
smile."  Of course, it was Lewis Carroll who popularized the
expression.  Probably the expression's continuing popularity and
widespread comprehensibility has been driven by movie versions of
Alice's Adventures (Disney, et al).  Phrases such as "fighting like
Kilkenny cats" have not had such advantages and, thus, are known
either regionally (I wonder if this is a common expression in some
varieties of British or Irish English) or only in literature.
I wondered if you picked up the phrase "the cat's meow."  Hendrickson
does not include that entry.  It strikes me as somewhat archaic
American English (used perhaps by people who grew up in the 1920's to
40's, but no longer used in the younger generations).  It means
someone or something that is "exquisite."  "At the dance last night,
she was the cat's meow."
     Thanks for raising the interesting questions on idioms, and
thanks also to the other respondents who have made interesting
contributions.

 Mike Medley



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R. Michael Medley       VPH 211                Ph: (712) 737-7047
Assistant Professor     Northwestern College
Department of English   Orange City, IA  51041
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