A month ago, we adopted two Occicats. I named the big brother, the silver guy, Oscar, and the smaller, chocolate brother, Gus, using names Manny had once liked for a son, but which I found beyond consideration.
At first Oscar and Gus seemed to suit them well.
They ran around, thrilled with themselves and their new surroundings.
This weekend, however, my daughter noticed that
Oscar
knew his name and Gus did not. The little guy is younger, but I still thought given the proper name, he should know it by now.
Perhaps we confused him, talking about our gustatory preferences. Of course, we haven't said gustatory once this month.
Did we refer to gusts blowing through the apartment? No.
We probably said us many times, and maybe that confused our kitten. We also--okay, I--fuss more often than not. Muss, however, is not a word we use. Messes are what we make.
Then, too, besides my fusses, I tend to gush, and yet I can't believe my immediate family talks about that when I'm absent and the cats present. Perhaps "Gus" just isn't this cat's name. Yesterday I hit upon "Archie."
How many words sound like "Archie," do you think? Not as many as Gus, because already the little darker kitten appears to perk up at the sound. So until further notice, our cats are Oscar and Archie.
How adorable.
Posted by: Mimi Lenox | February 26, 2008 at 11:37 PM
We have cats named Pip and Squeek. Pip is always Pip, but Squeek gets a new nickname whenever we feel like it. For instance: Montooba, Doodoo McPoodoo, Pork,Poobah. He doesn't seem to care, he thinks we're nuts anyway.
Posted by: Dan Leo | February 27, 2008 at 09:27 AM
We'll see what happens. We've never had two cats at once. A cat, a bird, and a dog, yes, when I overcompensated after losing our first cat. My plan is to go with Oscar and Archie without improvisation, because these cats act so much as if they might follow a few household rules of we only ask them nicely, and by name. That sounds so deluded even to me, however, that I really ought to stop guessing.
Posted by: Kathleen | February 27, 2008 at 09:59 AM
What if your husband complains that his shirts are too starchy? Or says you are speaking rather archly?
Posted by: Bosco | February 27, 2008 at 01:51 PM
Bosco, thanks for pointing out the danger. I'll talk to my husband. Of course, those of us who gush get too far ahead of ourselves for any arch cleverness. But there again, I better talk to my husband, who's so arch and so clever it's baffling.
Posted by: Kathleen | February 27, 2008 at 06:40 PM
They're beautiful, whatever their names!
I don't have cats, but I know my dogs have answered to the plethora of nicknames given them and like Dan said, they change whenever we feel like it or a new one emerges.
Posted by: Jennifer | March 02, 2008 at 03:26 PM
Oscar and Archie are really fun. I waited a couple years for them after the building super at the first place we lived in NYC threatened me with legal action, forcing us to get rid of a dog I was wildly attached to--never called Mingus anything but Mingus. Don't know why we don't make up nicknames but it hasn't happened yet.
Posted by: Kathleen | March 02, 2008 at 08:15 PM