Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2019 July 31

= July 31 =

Catsuits and cats
I searched for #catsuit on Instagram, and got mostly pictures of cats. Why do people tag their cat pictures like that? It hasn't anything to do with catsuits. Don't people know what the word mean or don't they care? Is it to mock people using catsuits? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.254.202.82 (talk) 16:54, 31 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Who says catsuits have nothing to do with cats? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:38, 31 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Read the Wikipedia text on the word 'catsuit'. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.254.202.82 (talk) 17:53, 31 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Here's EO's take on it. It totally has to do with cats. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:26, 31 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Looking for the term in Newspapers.com, it seems to first turn up around 1965, in reference to Diana Rigg and others. Also called a cat-skin suit. But another theory is that it refers to the type of outfit stereotypically worn by a cat-burglar, who are so named because of their cat-like stealthiness. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:43, 31 July 2019 (UTC)


 * Catwoman seems to have combined the two origins, as she was originally a cat-burglar, and later wore a catsuit that evolved to look more and more like an actual cat: . The green catsuit seems to be the first costume that could be called by that name: . The Julie Newmar version first appeared on TV in 1966, so Dianna Rigg's Emma Peel (as in the need to peel her out of her costume ?) may have beaten her to it by a year or so: . Interestingly, Julie was able to patent parts of her costume: . SinisterLefty (talk) 21:19, 31 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Amusing suggestion, but the name "Emma Peel" was explicitly coined to suggest "Man Appeal" (→ 'M Appeal' → 'Emma Peel'), as stated in the article you linked. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.123.24.56 (talk) 09:11, 1 August 2019 (UTC)


 * I'm afraid we have no meaningful way to provide you with reading material on why people tag cats with the word catsuit. Is there something else we can help you with? -- Jayron 32 17:42, 31 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, you could take the question seriously. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.254.202.82 (talk) 17:53, 31 July 2019 (UTC)
 * I'm trying to take it seriously. But you've not provided us with a question that seeks an answer.  You've provided us with a complaint that has a question mark at the end of it.  Expressions of incredulity that end with a question mark are not the same as earnest requests for more information.  -- Jayron 32 18:05, 31 July 2019 (UTC)


 * See folksonomy. It's possible that some of these people saw other people tagging such images with "catsuit" and chose to...follow suit.  But that's just well-informed speculation, as it's really not possible to give you a solid answer, barring the existence of a survey of catsuit-posters, and it's highly unlikely that such a survey would be performed for such a niche and hard-to-research question.  Nyttend (talk) 02:50, 1 August 2019 (UTC)


 * There will soon be a lot more cat people.  Watch the trailer . 2A00:23C5:CDAD:6500:34F0:5D70:7172:F66A (talk) 17:31, 1 August 2019 (UTC)


 * Maybe you could find a lawyer and file a #catsuit suit. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:44, 1 August 2019 (UTC)