13

I called one of my friends "copycat" the other day, and suddenly thought about it.

Why is it a "cat"? Where did this expression come from?

Does anyone have any information regarding how this phrase came about? Is there a story behind this?

Improve this question
6
  • 3
    This article from Slate.com has a good etymologic explanation.
    – JLG
    May 1, 2012 at 13:24
  • Although these books use the expression, it seems that this phrase has actually already been in use, the way the author wrote it without putting "" around the word copycat, which seems to assume that the reader knows what the author is writing about.
    – Bidella
    May 1, 2012 at 13:28
  • I had the same thought when I asked my question about "moth hour" a while back. Its first published use by a poet must have meant it was already in use in the vernacular. That, it seems, is harder to track down.
    – JLG
    May 1, 2012 at 13:32
  • @JLG, Incidentally the term is really copy monkey in Japanese
    – Pacerier
    Jan 24, 2014 at 11:13
  • Alliteration plays a role here - consider "busybody".
    – Chris B. Behrens
    Feb 9, 2015 at 18:34

6 Answers 6

Reset to default
8

The cat in copy-cat means person.

The OED says at copy-cat n.:

Etymology: cat n.1 2.

the referenced sense being:

cat n.1 2. fig. a. As a term of contempt for a human being; esp. one who scratches like a cat; a spiteful or backbiting woman. spec. an itinerant worker (U.S. slang).

Improve this answer
4

This is a slang term and was likely used in speech for a long time before being committed to the page, but the first print copy can still give us a rough idea of origin. Etymonline.com tells us:

copycat (n.)
by 1884, Amer.Eng., probably at least a generation older, from copy + cat. As a verb, from 1932.

This Ngram tends to agree, with some instances before 1900, fairly constant use for most of the 20th century, but then a huge increase in the 1980s.

Ngram of copy cat,copy-cat,copycat

The OED's earliest citation is Jewett's 1896, so I've sent them the Harrison 1887 and Jewett 1890 antedatings from the Slate article.

An article in Slate Magazine tells us the term came from nineteenth-century Maine.

Constance Cary Harrison's 1887 quasi-memoir Bar Harbor Days contains the first written evidence of the term copycat—that we know of, anyway. "Our boys say you are a copy cat, if you write in anything that's been already printed." Another early example comes from a different Maine-born writer, Sarah Orne Jewett, in her 1890 novel Betty Leicester: A Story for Girls. "I wouldn't be such a copy-cat," Lizzie French tells Betty, upon hearing that Betty wants to start a second all-girls club. Jewett used it again in her 1896 novel Country of Pointed Firs, about an elderly landlady in small-town coastal Maine who tells her friend Mrs. Fosdick, "In these days, the young folk is all copy-cats, 'fraid to death they won't be all just alike." Mrs. Fosdick's response suggests that the term had been part of the spoken vernacular for some time: "I ain't heard of a copy-cat this great many years," said Mrs. Fosdick, laughing; " 'twas a favorite term o' my grandmother's."

The OED's earliest citation is Jewett's 1896, so I've sent them the Harrison 1887 and Jewett 1890 antedatings from Slate Magazine.

Improve this answer
2
  • The OED's earliest citation is Jewett's 1896, so I've sent them the Harrison 1887 and Jewett 1890 antedatings from the Slate article.
    – Hugo
    May 21, 2012 at 7:03
  • Doug's 1884, could be this which is actually from a 1914 annual report for the Dedham Library and not the original 1884 annual. Wikipedia confirms The Copy-cat and Other Stories was published in 1914.
    – Callithumpian
    May 21, 2012 at 12:10
1
  1. Not good to call a friend a copycat, and if you do, etymology is your least concern
  2. See this Slate article regarding why it's not "copymonkey", etc., especially regarding the time of the origin of "hell-cat"
  3. The origin of the term is unknown and likely unknowable at this point
Improve this answer
1
  • "etymology is your poorest defence", rather?
    – Kris
    May 1, 2012 at 14:10
0

We have 2 cats who are sisters. One is a risk taker and very curious and the other much less so. The latter watches her sister when she is applauded for new behaviours and voila - within a day or 2 the 2nd sister is behaving in a similar way. We feel someone years ago saw this parallel behaviour too and coined the expression!!

Improve this answer
1
-1

I have been thinking of this term 'copycat' for a while - it could be an expression deriving from the previous saying: 'curiosity killed the cat' - Since cats are very curious, one cat will follow another cat to see what it is doing or playing with and will no doubt copy/imitate its actions - ie; one cat plays with a small object. Cat lovers who own two cats will certainly confirm this.

Improve this answer
-1

There is a greater resemblance between 2 cats than any other kind of animal.

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    Not really. If you were talking about big cats, you might have a point but the variety of domestic cats is mind boggling.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Feb 9, 2015 at 19:25

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.