I’m reading this as her using the phrase literally, seeing that the cat is “over there” and therefore (ostensibly) not the guilty party, and then thinking it’s even more gross because it was an independent (non-cat) occurrence.
However this make it funnier not one whit.
Oh sure, absolutely.
When I saw the headline but not yet the cartoon, I was expecting it to be based on either “more than one way to skin a cat” or “not enough room to swing a cat”, both of which are indeed disturbing to cat fanciers.
To answer the question: sure, especially if the cat is normally an indoor one. Janis is using it figuratively, looks at the cat and realizes she should have used it literally. It’s not a gem, but I think it works.
I own a cat and have used the phrase figuratively during that time, so sure.
Sure… And at least in my experience, cats that like to bring “presents” tend to leave them at the front door, not drag them into the house (and unless the cat had a pet door, it would be rather difficult for it to “drag something in” unbeknownst to its human).
Besides, Luddie is an older cat, whose hunting glory days are most likely behind him. On the other hand, the fact that he is actually a dog increases the likelihood that he might actually drag something disgusting into the house ;^)
Isn’t the term “look what the cat dragged in” generally applied to people, and humorously? I can’t think of any other use for it.
I read it the exact opposite of CloonBounty.
She says figuratively it looks like something the cat dragged in but shes squinting cause she got her morning vision. Sees the cat and then realizes it’s literally something the cat dragged in and she recognizes what it is really is and it is very gross.
Um… if your question is do cat owners use this phrase (they do) this is that enough to be a CIDU. The fact that the cartoonist is assuming they doesnt change or invalidate the joke, does it?
I had the same thought as Dyfsunctional. I’m not a cat owner, but I would never use that phrase for an object.
@ Dysfunctional – It was certainly applied to a person on at least one memorable occasion:
I feel it may be important to point out that the 100 year old (at least) expression, “Look what the cat dragged in”, which was (and maybe still is) usually used in reference to a person, is not what Janis said.
I’ve always heard it as ‘that looks like something the cat dragged in’, and was occasionally said about someone’s cooking. Maybe Calvin’s mom?
I woke up one morning to find half a small rabbit beside my bed. The cat was standing beside it, but she looked quite surprised and mystified too. She was a small cat and wrestling a rabbit into two halves I would have thought beyond her. Perhaps she found it and wanted my opinion on who could have done it, or perhaps she had forgotten having anything to do with it. Or some other denizen of the night had brought it in, but that seems even more unlikely.
I would bet that a Great Horned Owl dropped half of it in your yard . . . we had a GHO nest in one of our trees in WI and found all sorts of things like that under it.
“Look what the cat dragged in” is akin to “Speak of the devil”
But “It looks like something the cat dragged in” is a common phrase as well… meaning “yuck”.
Agree that
1) Cat owners are being encouraged to keep their cats in more – to reduce the impact on neighborhood birds and reduce exposure to FeLV et al
2) The saying is more geared toward people, not stuff
3) If I saw something icky, I would start with the cat having an accident, not think of them as a second thought.
Some of you regulars haven’t commented yet.
What’s wrong?
Cat got your tongue?
Our “dragged in” statistics for 2019 includes two birds (one of which escaped and flew back out the door), a couple mice (that’s not counting another half-dozen carcasses that were chewed on and left on the patio), and one small snake (which may have survived, I scooped it up with a shovel and put it out into the woods behind our house).
The odd thing is that this is not our cat. We occasionally babysit a neighbors’ cat, who now treats our house as an optional second refuge (she’s sleeping under our Christmas tree right now), and she “rewards” us with our fair share of the “prizes”.
I look at my cat, and say, “This looks like something YOU dragged in!”
I had a small laugh to myself today; reading a mystery set in Victorian England, the phrase ‘you look like something the cat dragged in’ was used.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I’m reading this as her using the phrase literally, seeing that the cat is “over there” and therefore (ostensibly) not the guilty party, and then thinking it’s even more gross because it was an independent (non-cat) occurrence.
However this make it funnier not one whit.
Oh sure, absolutely.
When I saw the headline but not yet the cartoon, I was expecting it to be based on either “more than one way to skin a cat” or “not enough room to swing a cat”, both of which are indeed disturbing to cat fanciers.
To answer the question: sure, especially if the cat is normally an indoor one. Janis is using it figuratively, looks at the cat and realizes she should have used it literally. It’s not a gem, but I think it works.
I own a cat and have used the phrase figuratively during that time, so sure.
Sure… And at least in my experience, cats that like to bring “presents” tend to leave them at the front door, not drag them into the house (and unless the cat had a pet door, it would be rather difficult for it to “drag something in” unbeknownst to its human).
Besides, Luddie is an older cat, whose hunting glory days are most likely behind him. On the other hand, the fact that he is actually a dog increases the likelihood that he might actually drag something disgusting into the house ;^)
Isn’t the term “look what the cat dragged in” generally applied to people, and humorously? I can’t think of any other use for it.
I read it the exact opposite of CloonBounty.
She says figuratively it looks like something the cat dragged in but shes squinting cause she got her morning vision. Sees the cat and then realizes it’s literally something the cat dragged in and she recognizes what it is really is and it is very gross.
Um… if your question is do cat owners use this phrase (they do) this is that enough to be a CIDU. The fact that the cartoonist is assuming they doesnt change or invalidate the joke, does it?
I had the same thought as Dyfsunctional. I’m not a cat owner, but I would never use that phrase for an object.
@ Dysfunctional – It was certainly applied to a person on at least one memorable occasion:
I feel it may be important to point out that the 100 year old (at least) expression, “Look what the cat dragged in”, which was (and maybe still is) usually used in reference to a person, is not what Janis said.
I’ve always heard it as ‘that looks like something the cat dragged in’, and was occasionally said about someone’s cooking. Maybe Calvin’s mom?
I woke up one morning to find half a small rabbit beside my bed. The cat was standing beside it, but she looked quite surprised and mystified too. She was a small cat and wrestling a rabbit into two halves I would have thought beyond her. Perhaps she found it and wanted my opinion on who could have done it, or perhaps she had forgotten having anything to do with it. Or some other denizen of the night had brought it in, but that seems even more unlikely.
I would bet that a Great Horned Owl dropped half of it in your yard . . . we had a GHO nest in one of our trees in WI and found all sorts of things like that under it.
This rabbit half was under the nest –
The entire story of the GHO raising a baby is here – one o’ those experiences you never forget . . .
http://alldogssite.com/greathornedowls11901.html
“Look what the cat dragged in” is akin to “Speak of the devil”
But “It looks like something the cat dragged in” is a common phrase as well… meaning “yuck”.
Agree that
1) Cat owners are being encouraged to keep their cats in more – to reduce the impact on neighborhood birds and reduce exposure to FeLV et al
2) The saying is more geared toward people, not stuff
3) If I saw something icky, I would start with the cat having an accident, not think of them as a second thought.
Some of you regulars haven’t commented yet.
What’s wrong?
Cat got your tongue?
Our “dragged in” statistics for 2019 includes two birds (one of which escaped and flew back out the door), a couple mice (that’s not counting another half-dozen carcasses that were chewed on and left on the patio), and one small snake (which may have survived, I scooped it up with a shovel and put it out into the woods behind our house).
The odd thing is that this is not our cat. We occasionally babysit a neighbors’ cat, who now treats our house as an optional second refuge (she’s sleeping under our Christmas tree right now), and she “rewards” us with our fair share of the “prizes”.
I look at my cat, and say, “This looks like something YOU dragged in!”
I had a small laugh to myself today; reading a mystery set in Victorian England, the phrase ‘you look like something the cat dragged in’ was used.
It’s that Red Army Faction mandala effect.