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Title: Feline spinal drying question Post by: Fulbert on November 27, 2008, 17:49 No, I didn't mistake LTS for a veterinarian forum;-)
My mother has just told me a very weird proverb which can be translated as "If you don't pat a cat on its back, its spinal cord dries up". Spooky, innit?:-) The strangest part is that, according to her, the proverb is originally English and is supposed to mean that every living creature needs some care and kindness. Needless to say, I couldn't believe that, it's just too crazy, even for the English (no offence;-), so here I am, asking English-speakers if there is such a proverb in your language. Or at least which ones would carry the same meaning. Thanks in advance:-) Title: Re: Feline spinal drying question Post by: Dagdamor on November 27, 2008, 18:12 Fulbert
Quote The distribution of fibers staining for cholinesterase in the spinal cord of the cat was examined after hemisection at the level of the third cervical segment (C3), of the tenth thoracic segment (Ti 0), or of the first lumbar segment (LI). An accumulation of cholinesterase was found in many fibers of the cord both rostral and caudal to the lesion, the distribution being different in the two regions. These experiments indicate that there are ascending and descending cholinergic fibers in cat spinal cord. Sorry, that was the most making-sense thing Google knows about your subject ;) If such a saying existed, I think I could find it. So, either it wasn't English saying, or it has different meaning in that language and wasn't translated literally. I cannot even remember the mentioned saying in Russian, also cannot translate it back (the result makes no sense) - can you repeat our version? Title: Re: Feline spinal drying question Post by: Fulbert on November 27, 2008, 19:01 Yeah, I googled it, too:-) Could find nothing relevant, so I decided to ask the people who actually speak the language on the daily basis. The Russian version sounds awkward as well, it goes like "???? ????? ?? ??????? ?? ?????, ? ??? ?????????? ??????? ????". My mom told me she heard that a long time ago, before the fall of the Union. I guess it's just a tale about those wacky English, like the ones about feral bears on the Red Square, so we had a bet. I've got to be sure:-)
The Russian equivalent is, by the way, "?????? ????? ? ????? ???????" ("Even a cat appreciates a kind word"). The fact that both proverbs include cats seems a bit suspicious, huh?:-) Title: Re: Feline spinal drying question Post by: Dagdamor on November 27, 2008, 19:07 /me changes the browser charset to read that
Never heard that first saying before, both in Russian and in English. It's especially weird to hear a saying about a spinal cord (!), I thought they should be made by regular people, not by scientists. The second one, instead, is pretty much common, although I don't know its correct English equivalent. English, historically, has many sayings about cats. For example, "Curiosity kills a cat". I think it's from those dark years when people suffered from rats and their epidemic diseases a lot. ;) |