Cat’s Pajamas

All of a sudden Patchtricia suddenly jumped up to the top spot of the step thingy and proclaimed, “I was watching an old TV show where one character said to the other, ‘That’s the cat’s pajamas’.” With her fur rising on her back, she continued, “What on earth is ‘the cat’s pajamas? We don’t wear pajamas we have perfectly good fur coats we wear all the time, which are nice and clean as we keep them nice. I just don’t understand.”

Lamont opened an eye, peering with a bit of distain towards his little sister and said, “Pajamas, are clothes that the furless beings wear at night when they go to bed and sleep, at least some or perhaps most of them. They lack our nice clean fur coats and you never see them licking themselves or each other to keep them clean, instead they use machines called washers and dryers at great expense to themselves to keep the pajamas and the other clothes they wear clean. Humans are very limited and have to do things like that to keep up with the dignity we cats naturally have. Understand?”

“Not really,” injected Pawline, “you have given us a description of pajamas but why would the TV character say that phrase, ‘the cat’s pajamas’? That makes no sense to me, though it sounds as though he approved of what he described as the cat’s pajamas.”

Getting up and ascending to the step thingy with Patch, Lamont assumed his lecturing position sitting regally and staring down upon his sisters. “Dear sisters,” he began, “This term, ‘cat’s pajamas’ is a bit out of date in human speech today, but it is an euphemism human’s make about something that is nice and they especially like."

Continuing his lecture Lamont said, “The term ‘cat’s pajamas’ comes from the 1700’s, a term coined by an English tailor E.B. Katz. This Katz, not to be confused with a real cat, was well known for the excellence of his silk pajamas he made for people of wealth who could afford to wear such things at night to cover their furless bodies. More recently in the 1920’s the era of the movie you watched portrayed a person by the name of Thomas A. Dorgan use the word ‘cat’ to describe the flappers; scantily clad lasses of the jazz era of the ‘roaring twenties’. The word ‘cat’ then was combined with pajamas, which were just beginning to be worn more popularly among the masses of the furless beings. Thus, ‘cat’s pajamas’ was a term used to describe something very desirable and the best. There you have it. And, if you think about it, it is a bit of a compliment to we cat’s who, of course, are quite desirable and the best of creatures.

In the mood of enlightening his siblings, Lamont added, “This is also reflected in another 1920’s saying, ‘cool cat’ and ‘hep cat’ referring to those who kept up with the latest fashion trends. We cats, of course, are above such need of accouterments to keep ourselves fashionable, being excellently clothed at all times we our luxurious fur coats.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” replied the Paw and Patch who had become somewhat bored with Lamont’s lecture and were busily grooming each other licking each other fur coats.