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Obscure Origins of Common Phrases
It was Friday night and we were watching MSNBC and Keith Oberman was reading a short story from a James Thurber book. For those of you who are NOT leaning left and were listening to some Fox news rhetoric, this reading always takes place on a Friday evening on his show. Anyway, at some point in the story, this paragraph was read:
“She must be a Dodger fan. Red Barber announces the Dodger games over the radio and he uses those expressions… ‘sitting in the catbird seat’ means sitting pretty, like a batter with three balls and no strikes on him.”
Heard it all my life, know what it means and wondered buy why and how did it come about. My guess last night was that it had something to do with sailing and boy was I ever wrong!!!
The phrase is of American origin and refers to the common gray catbird who is in the same group of birds that the Mockingbird is in and they are known as mimic thrushes. The Catbird can mimic the sound of a cat meowing. The catbird seeks the highest perch to sing and display. It may also have been the source of an earlier term with much the same meaning – sitting pretty.
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
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