Since Japanese has many words and expressions related to cats, I wanted to share a few with you. Unfortunately, cats are not always associated with positive behaviors.
■ 猫舌 (nekojita):
“Cat tongue” refers to people who can’t eat or drink hot things, hot in temperature — like cats. In Japan, eating things while they are hot is often suggested as a gourmet rule, for example you are supposed to eat ramen right after you are served. It’s interesting since the French expression “la langue au chat,” which also means “cat tongue,” is used for a completely different subject. We use it in the expression “donner sa langue au chat,” which is used when we admit that we don’t know something in a quiz for example.
■ 猫背 (nekoze):
“Cat back” is used for people who have a round back or are hunching.
■ 猫をかぶる (neko wo kaburu):
“To wear a cat” is used to describe when feigning innocence, someone who acts nice, but is hiding their claws.
■ 猫ばば (neko baba):
“Cat excrement” is used to describe someone who does a misdeed and hides boldly, or finds something of a value, on the street for example, and misappropriates it. It comes from the image of cats putting sand on their excrement to hide it. It is usually conjugated like this : 猫ばばする (nekobaba suru)
■ 猫なで声 (nekonadegoe):
“Cat’s sweet voice” is used to describe a wheedling voice someone uses when they want something. Like my cat’s meow when she wants food, suddenly she is so sweet!
French has also some “cat” expressions, which I’ll talk about it sometime soon.