27/05/2024
Curiosity killed the cat
This cautionary saying, meaning ‘to mind one’s own business’, first appeared in an Irish newspaper in 1868 but really became the cat’s whiskers in 1873, by then appearing frequently as a proverb.
Thought to originate from the original ‘care killed the cat’, the idiom appears in its original form in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and was quoted in this form in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable as late as the 19th century.
Knowing just how curious those feline detectives can be, it’s not surprising this little saying has lasted so long in its modern construction. Good job they have nine lives!
