Idiom of the day - A Cat May Look at a King

The Oxford dictionary defines the term a cat may look at a king as meaning that even a person of low status has rights. Wiktionary defines the expression as meaning ”A purported inferior has certain abilities, even in the presence of a purported superior.” 

The interesting www.idioms.in website has a longer treatment. This is an Indian website about idioms, and carries advertising. It also has a competition, Mention idioms.in on your blog and Win a Prize. 

Here’s a better statement from another website, Writing Explained (Slogan: “Write better. Write now.”)

“A cat can look at a king is a proverb which implies that no matter how high your status is, you can’t control everything. Others will always be your equals in some way.” And I guess it might also have added, no matter how much the king resents it. 

This idiom is first known in a 1562 collection of proverbs, The Proverbs And Epigrams Of John Heywood. Here is the full quote from the book 

Some hear and see him whom he heareth nor seeth not

But fields have eyes and woods have ears, ye wot

And also on my maids he is ever tooting.

Can ye judge a man, (quoth I), by his looking?

What, a cat may look on a king, ye know!

My cat’s leering look, (quoth she), at first show,

Showeth me that my cat goeth a caterwauling;

And specially by his manner of drawing

To Madge, my fair maid.

The best-known use of the proverb is in Alice in Wonderland, in this passage which presents things from a king's viewpoint. Why should that cat be able to look at me?

"Who are you talking to?" said the King, coming up to Alice, and looking at the Cat's head with great curiosity. "It's a friend of mine–a Cheshire Cat," said Alice: "allow me to introduce it." "I don't like the look of it at all," said the King: "however, it may kiss my hand, if it likes." "I'd rather not," the Cat remarked. "Don't be impertinent," said the King, "and don't look at me like that!" He got behind Alice as he spoke.

"A cat may look at a king," said Alice. "I've read that in some book, but I don't remember where.""Well, it must be removed," said the King very decidedly; and he called to the Queen, who was passing at the moment, "My dear! I wish you would have this cat removed!"The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. "Off with his head!" she said without even looking round. "I'll fetch the executioner myself," said the King eagerly, and he hurried off.

Since then, of course, most of the world’s kings have fallen or faded, and been replaced by other figures of authority. Although the hereditary principle is far from gone, modern kings have chosen to assume other titles. But a cat can still look at them, whether they like it or not.

Resentment at being looked at by cats is perhaps one of the original inspirations for the legal concept lèse-majesté – see the Wikipedia for an explanation. These are the kinds of laws designed to stop cats from looking at kings just whenever they want to. And not just looking, either - once allowed to look at kings, cats may move on to even less acceptable actions. The hypersensitivity of contemporary rulers to contradiction, criticism, or failure to kiss the hand of a president or pope, has become a feature of our lives, but it is not new.

An article in Conservativehome, a UK journal for Conservatives, pointed out that the campaign to rescind the invitation to Donald Trump for a state visit to the UK was not based on his policies and actions as head of state, such as his ban on entry to the US people from certain predominantly Muslim countries. The article quotes from the petition and then makes a comment

"“Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.

“Donald Trump’s well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales. Therefore during the term of his presidency Donald Trump should not be invited to the United Kingdom for an official State Visit.”

Such a marriage of left-wing gesture politics with a typically right-wing preoccupation with the dignity of the monarch is unusual, to say the least. Perhaps it’s an attempt to build broader support for a ban?"

Either way, there's no way a vulgar misogynist is going to be allowed to look at our Queen.

Translation through the ages

Most of us are engaged with translation in many ways - think about your own use of translation in all of its variety, such as the last translated work that you read.

My friend Marie Lebert, a linguist, is researching the history of translation and has written a short, accessible, and interesting article on this history. The article includes a plea for translators to receive better recognition and higher visibility in the 21st century.

Now, Marie's current research project "focuses on the sea change brought by technology in the professional translators' working conditions, that have become a major issue in recent years." In pointing out the precarious lives of professional translators, Marie says

"As surprising as it may be in our society, bilingual people need more skills than two languages to become good translators. To be a translator is a profession, with the relevant training and a thorough knowledge of a given discipline. While this was obvious for centuries, this seems less obvious now. After being regarded as scholars alongside authors, professors and researchers for two millennia, many translators, to their dismay, see no mention of their names on press releases and book covers, and sometimes even on the articles and books they spent days, weeks or months to translate.

Are there some solutions to reverse this trend? Our society should acknowledge (again) the translators’ major impact on knowledge, science, literature and culture. My work will be based on many interviews conducted online and on-site.

Marie is also speaking at the FIT Congress (International Federation of Translators) in Brisbane on 3-5 August 2017. Please forward this to people who may be interested in supporting this work - Marie would like to advance her project, working in Australia if possible.

Motto of the day: Nullius in verba

Surely the organisation with absolutely the best motto is the Royal Society? Nullius in verba, according to the Wikipedia, means “Take nobody’s word for it”; it is Latin for “on the word of no-one”. John Evelyn and other Fellows of the Royal Society choose the motto soon after the Society was founded, 350 years ago. The Royal Society explains the motto this way:

It is an expression of the determination of Fellows to withstand the domination of authority and to verify all statements by an appeal to facts determined by experiment.

The phrase came from Horace's Epistle to his benefactor Maecenas. These are his words

Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, – quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes.
("(being) not obliged to swear allegiance to a master, wherever the storm drags me to, I turn in as a guest.") 

It is hard to think of a better motto – a challenge to make us all sit up and think, as the Royal Society says.