Word: domestica
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Japan and China, this is the Year of the Dog. In the U.S., it looks suspiciously like the Year of the Hog. Suddenly, for old and young alike, Sus domestica, the farmyard pig, seems to be displacing the cat as a national object of whimsy, affection, satire and extravagant punnery. From the Hog Wild! store in Boston's Faneuil Hall Market Place to three Hogography gift shops in Arkansas to the Hogs & Kisses emporium in San Francisco, retailers' shelves are packed with greeting cards, books, posters, clothes, games, stuffed toys, jewelry, office accessories (oink-wells), bumper stickers (HAVE...
Votaries of the cat take a different view. From Cleopatra to Colette they have praised Felis domestica in stories, songs and poems for grace, independence, intelligence, perseverance and fastidious ways. Unlike the dog or man, cats do not form Soviets or pyramid clubs to achieve dubious pack goals. While they may pick a top cat, felines do not seem to require rigid hierarchies when a number of them live together. If human, cats might play solitaire, but they would never sit around with the gang and a few six-packs watching Monday Night Football. Their aloof singularity lies...
...holy cow in India. There are some 25 million pet felines in the U.S.; their care and feeding cost up to $1.8 billion a year, which is more than the defense budget of Brazil. Yet, deep in the American psyche, there is evidently a bristling resentment of Felis domestica. This has erupted in a litter of books that celebrate a new and fast-growing cult of ailurophobia (hatred or fear of cats...