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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Heard in the wild: “He’s grinning like a Chesapeake cat.”
Quick Twitter search turns up other examples:
“Poor Pelosi having trouble with her bridge. Chesapeake cat can’t smile.”
“Grinning all the way to the bank, just like a Chesapeake Cat!”
Of course, there ARE cats in Chesapeake:
“Man gets 30 days for Chesapeake cat strangling: HamptonRoads.com”
On On,
Paul Woodford
Paul’s Thing
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Interesting capture in the wild! The true origin of the grinning Cheshire cat is lost to antiquity. I like the simplest explanation for its origin, that the cats were happy in Cheshire with all the milk and cream lying about. There are lots of other theories. But without having read Alice’s story, the idea of a cheery Cheshire cat is sufficiently inscrutable to make it a natural target for reworking, and maybe couching it closer to home, like in Ches…apeake. Here are some other resettings.
First, a big grin on a cat makes some sense if the cat has a good sense of humour. This one’s unfortunately a uniquecorn.
“I didn’t know you read yuri manga…” Kyoko smile twisted as she grinned from ear to ear like a jester cat.
fanfic
An alternative point of origin might be Chesterfield, or, in Canada, the chesterfield. Calling a couch a chesterfield is apparently more common in Canada than elsewhere. Couch cats are evidently so cozy that they can’t help smiling. Bets are off on what the hit from Texas had in mind.
The year ended with a bang, with you grinning from ear to ear like a chesterfield cat that you’re the latest graduate in town.
Nigerian fic
Elliot’s is grinning like a chesterfield cat, making me suspicious.
fanfic
Mike Stucker hosted his first meeting as our new President as Vince Barrale sat on the back row and looking like a Chesterfield cat!
Texas hobby forum
My fave was “grinning like a treasure cat”, like a dragon on its hoard.
Happy is not your typical skip, skip, skip to my Lou, hopping and dancing around, smiling like a treasure cat, singing from the rooftop type of disposition.
self-help ebook
Agia giggled and smirk evilly like a treasure cat smile.
fanfic
When Randy Phillips took the stand at the AEG Live and Murray trial, he was grinning like a treasure cat.
Conspiracy theory
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There is the Chesapeake and Ohio cat, Chessie. who doesn’t grin, but naps. Although Chessie in no longer painted on the sides of rolling stock, there are plenty of older cars with Chessie. I suspect people are conflating the two cats.
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Bet Eoin’s right on this being a source for some speakers at least, maybe most who would use it.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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