Meanwhile, in the Land of Cats
Posted on July 22, 2010 Posted by John Scalzi 29 Comments
Here’s Ghlaghghee, still mildly peeved because today she had to go to the vet to have an abscess in her mouth looked at. As some of you may remember, Ghlaghghee has had a bout with Feline Eosinophilic Granuloma Complex, so when something’s screwy with her mouth, we take it seriously. Fortunately, the vet was of the opinion that there was nothing going on a nice hefty shot of antibiotics wouldn’t cure, so that’s what kitty got, and now she’s back home, huffily lounging. There, there, Ghlaghghee. Better a shot in the rump than an abscess in your food intake system, I always say.
Very few things beat a sharp stick in the ***…
John- please post a phonetic spelling of Glugglugees name. I am going crazy trying to pronounce it. (Note- glugglugee is the closest I can come! I thought I was wierd when I named my Akita “Omoi yoshoka shinju” or Shin for short.
If I recall correctly it is pronounced “Fluffy”. Sort of like ghoti being pronounced “fish”.
Those anti-biotics do strange things to cats. Ghlaghghee looks all blurry and somewhat monochrome.
Man, I hope I’m not looking at another $1,300.00 bill for my cat, Xan, who seems to yet again this year have a stopped up colon.
Neale Osborn@2: It’s pronounced “fluffy.” Straight from the horse’s (so to speak) mouth:
http://www.blogger.com/profile/11032963262945179499
Using “gh” for the sound “f” is a common enough practice, but I’m not sure by what precedent the “a” is used to make the sound “uh.” It seems to me it should be pronounced “flaffy.”
Anyway, I hope Ghlaghghee feels better soon so John can close both eyes when he sleeps.
I think it’s Welsh for ‘fluffy’. :)
O Great Scalzi, how wonderful it is to see a picture of Her Most Glorious Shimmering Radiant Perfection after such an unconscionable drought.
How terrible it is that you persist in photoshopping Her Images after the Executive Committee has expressly forbidden this.
Now, if it has happened that Her Pure and Overwhelming Essence has distorted your imaging system we retract our criticism, but expect you to compensate for it in the future.
The Official Ghlaghghee Fan Club
PS – An abscess? What on earth are you doing to Her? Do we need to plan a Magnificent She Rescue Operation?
@5 “I’m not sure by what precedent the ‘a’ is used to make the sound ‘uh.'”
English is full of examples, but the second A in “cataleptic” seems an appropriate one to point out.
And thats what happens when you attach raw bacon to a cat…
Okay, this PROVES I’m in company as wierd as I am. It’s good to be home.
John- please give She Who Must Be Obeyed my best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Both the a’s in my first name (like a certain massive hurricane from 2005) make the ‘uh’ sound, so it’s not totally uncommon. Granted, it’s because they’re the unstressed syllables, but there’s precedent.
-kat
katser@11 — Cats are usually very good at avoiding stress, which probably extends to affecting the phonetics of the name. A stressed syllable, on meeting an unstressed cat, will presumably sigh, roll over on its back, and melt.
Oh man, my mother’s cat, Mr. Bradley Bristletail, had a bout with that, as well. Poor little dude, his mouth was so swollen. I’m glad it wasn’t that again.
Well, I am so glad to find out that her name is pronounced fluffy. In my mind it when gialigahaoaoaoaoidapoidf. And then I gave up and turned it into ga when I read it. That’s how I deal with words I can figure out how to pronounce. I attach random grunt noises to them and keep reading.
It’s like reading those Steig Larsson books. You can pronounce it in your head anyway you want. Krjornbjon Sjrlenegl is Kirk Smith. etc.
Sara @14: in that case best to avoid Gaelic.
I’m glad its not a granuloma those are nasty one of my cats has had trouble with that (as well as nasty weepy tummy rash). it turned out to be food allergy based so now she eats cat food made from green peas and duck.
Boy, are you in trouble…
“Better a shot in the rump than an abscess in your food intake system.”
This would look nice on a sampler.
Bob, I invite you to make it so.
Yaa for da kitty! I agree. I’d much rather have them get a shot to fix the problem.
give her an extra pettin’ for me!
Poor sweetie. Glad you caught it before she lost any teeth. My dog had a bacterial infection on his gums and he rarely ever lets me look at his mouth, so I didn’t know about it until he ended up having teeth pulled out (vet said they were loose). He’s fine, but I still felt bad. In my defense, the vet said his breed is prone to that and it wouldn’t take long for it to get that bad.
Ghlaghghee simply follows the spelling conventions of an older time and place. Clearly she came here from Bosnia *after* the Clinton Compassionate Airlift of the 1990’s….
http://www.squarewheels.com/jokes/clintondeploysvowels.html
14,15: I don’t recall who said it, but I recall a quote from a scientist along the lines of, “If you are reading a technical paper and come across a word you don’t understand, skip over it; the paper will make perfect sense without it.”
Good to see she’s doing OK! My cat apparently resorbed (sp?) a couple of teeth since her previous appointment, but the vet had to tell me that….
My cat used to give us dirty looks for a week whenever we took her to the vet. She used to get sick from the shots though. So I understood. Better that then getting sick.
@DG Lewis, 24: I wish that rule also applied to papers by urban studies theorists, who seem to dearly love inventing new words when old ones would do perfectly well.
@7 Chang, who is not Chang
Noble One,
I would advise against a rescue misson, for three reasons.
1. Her Omnipotence is beyond the need for help from mere humans.
2. The Scalzi Units are actually trying to help.
3. The SFWA President’s property is protected, not just by Klingons, but by a squad of crazed marmosets armed with laser rifles.
Let’s just fasten our aluminum helms all the tighter (I find that large rubber bands help keep mine in place) and monitor the situation. Peace out.
Poor Kitty. Hope she’s doing better. Our ancient cat Galaxy, she’s 18 or so, had to all but 2 of her teeth yanked. It was awful for her for about a week. Now she gums her food.