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Answer:
"Cat got your tongue?" is a nonsense question that you ask when someone is being unusually quiet and not talking. You often see this used by an adult to try to get a child to tell them what they are thinking about. It refers to the idea that your family cat might have grabbed your tongue, thus keeping you from talking. You would just ask the person, "Cat got your tongue?" to start a conversation.
The expression 'has the cat got your tongue?' is used as a question to elicit a response from a person who fails to answer when asked something.
The most surprising thing about "cat got your tongue" may be that it seems to be a quite recent expression. While it certainly sounds as if it must have been dreamt up back in the Middle Ages, the earliest written example listed in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1911. Also, there is some confusion about its origin. The Random House dictionary says it is from the mid-nineteenth Century and was used when talking to a child who refused to answer a parent's questions after doing something bad. However, other sources suggest that it comes from the English sailing ship days, and refers to the cat o' nine tails (a whip). If the captain or other officer told someone something in secrecy, he would be threatened with 'the cat' if he were to tell the others. Of course, if the others wanted to know what had been said they would say, "Tell us, or are you afraid? Has the cat got your tongue?" Other theories claim that the saying stems from a custom in the Middle East hundreds of years ago, when it was common to punish a thief by cutting off their right hand, and a liar by ripping out their tongue and then giving these severed body parts to the ruler's pet cats as part of their daily food.
It means that you are having trouble thinking of a way to speak and or answer a question that has been posed to you, so it seems like you cannot talk.
When someone says or asks "cat has your tongue," it technically means you are speechless, you can't think of anything else to say.
The expression 'has the cat got your tongue?' is used as a question to elicit a response from a person who fails to answer when asked something.
The most surprising thing about "cat got your tongue" may be that it seems to be a quite recent expression. While it certainly sounds as if it must have been dreamt up back in the Middle Ages, the earliest written example listed in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1911. Also, there is some confusion about its origin. The Random House dictionary says it is from the mid-nineteenth Century and was used when talking to a child who refused to answer a parent's questions after doing something bad. However, other sources suggest that it comes from the English sailing ship days, and refers to the cat o' nine tails (a whip). If the captain or other officer told someone something in secrecy, he would be threatened with 'the cat' if he were to tell the others. Of course, if the others wanted to know what had been said they would say, "Tell us, or are you afraid? Has the cat got your tongue?" Other theories claim that the saying stems from a custom in the Middle East hundreds of years ago, when it was common to punish a thief by cutting off their right hand, and a liar by ripping out their tongue and then giving these severed body parts to the ruler's pet cats as part of their daily food.
It means that you are having trouble thinking of a way to speak and or answer a question that has been posed to you, so it seems like you cannot talk.
When someone says or asks "cat has your tongue," it technically means you are speechless, you can't think of anything else to say.
First answer by Muddude8.
Last edit by Taoman1.
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