Cat Fishing at Night

by Elizabeth McTaggart

Title

Cat Fishing at Night

Artist

Elizabeth McTaggart

Medium

Digital Art - Fractal Art And Digital Collage

Description

Cat Fishing at Night:: ...
"Curiosity killed the cat" is a proverb used to warn of the dangers of unnecessary investigation or experimentation. A less frequently-seen rejoinder to "curiosity killed the cat" is "but, satisfaction brought it back".

The original form of the proverb, now little used, was "Care killed the cat". In this instance, "care" was defined as "worry" or "sorrow." An easier definiton of the phrase curiosity killed the cat would be that being curious can sometimes lead to trouble.

Origin
The earliest printed reference to the original proverb is attributed to the British playwright Ben Jonson in his 1598 play, Every Man in His Humour, which was performed first by William Shakespeare.

...Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care will kill a cat, up-tails all, and a pox on the hangman.

Shakespeare used a similar quote in his circa 1599 play, Much Ado About Nothing:

“ What, courage man! what though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care. ”

The proverb remained the same until at least 1898. Ebenezer Cobham Brewer included this definition in his Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
“ Care killed the Cat.
It is said that "a cat has nine lives," yet care would wear them all out. ”

Transformation
The origin of the modern variation is unknown. The earliest known printed reference to the actual phrase "Curiosity killed the cat" is in James Allan Mair's 1873 compendium A handbook of proverbs: English, Scottish, Irish, American, Shakesperean, and scriptural; and family mottoes, where it is listed as an Irish proverb on page 34.

In the 1902 edition of Proverbs: Maxims and Phrases, by John Hendricks Bechtel, the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat" is the lone entry under the topic "Curiosity" on page 100.

O. Henry's 1909 short story "Schools and Schools" includes a mention that suggests knowledge of the proverb had become widespread by that time:

“ Curiosity can do more things than kill a cat; and if emotions, well recognized as feminine, are inimical to feline life, then jealousy would soon leave the whole world catless.

[source: Wikipedia]

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April 21st, 2013

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