Moggy

Information about Moggy

This typical domestic shorthaired cat has a brown mackerel tabby coat.

Moggy or moggie (plural moggies) is a British affectionate term for a domestic cat, but is also used as alternative name for a mongrel or mixed-breed cat whose ancestry and pedigree are unknown or only partially known. Because of this mixed ancestry and free-breeding, a moggy can either be very healthy, or, if from an inbred feral colony, genetically unsound and sickly. However, as feral colonies are often left without any form of human intervention and veterinary attention, the sickly generally do not live past kittenhood, leaving the colony as a whole healthy.

Etymology

The origin of the word moggy is not a corruption of the word 'mongrel', as many believe. It was first recorded in 1911, and was possibly derived from maggie, margie or mog, all short forms of the female name Margaret. It is thought this was first used to describe an ungainly lumbering old cow, and it may even have been a minor rural English name for any cow; since 'moggy' was used in several 1800s English dialects as an 'affectionate name' for a cow. As rural people flocked to the cities during the latter part of the Industrial Revolution, it seems likely that the cow moggy became maggie, applied as a term of abuse for a dishevelled old woman or older prostitute.

The origin is obviously confused, but as the early 20th century streets of London became filled with very many unhealthy looking stray cats, it would have been natural to apply the term moggy to describe these unfortunate creatures.

In parts of Lancashire, England the word 'moggy' means mouse not cat. A cat was known as 'the moggy catcher'. It has been suggested that this could be the etymology of the word moggy meaning 'cat' - over time the catcher part was dropped from 'the moggy catcher' and so moggy now means both 'mouse' and 'cat'.

References

Morris, Desmond. Catlore. New York: Crown Publishers, 1987.
The term "Moggie" discussed at World Wide Words.

British English (BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere in the Anglophone world.
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F. s. catus

Trinomial name
Felis silvestris catus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms
Felis lybica invalid junior synonym
Felis catus invalid junior synonym^[2]

The cat (
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Mongrel refers to mixed ancestry:

Among pets, one whose parentage is of unknown or mixed breeds as opposed to purebred
Among dogs, this is also called a mutt or a mixed-breed dog.

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Purebreds, also called purebreeds, are cultivated varieties or cultivars of an animal species, achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be pedigreed.
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Inbreeding is breeding between close relatives, whether plant or animal. If practiced repeatedly, it often leads to a reduction in genetic diversity, and the increased gene expression of recessive traits, resulting in inbreeding depression.
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feral organism is one that has escaped from domestication and returned, partly or wholly, to its wild state. Rarely will a local environment perfectly integrate the feral organism into its established ecology.
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Veterinary medicine is the application of medical, diagnostic, and therapeutic principles to companion, domestic, exotic, wildlife, and production animals. Veterinary science
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A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers.
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Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation had a profound effect on socioeconomic and cultural conditions in Britain and subsequently spread throughout the world, a process that
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Lancashire

Geography
Status Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
Origin Historic
Region North West England
Area
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domestic longhaired cat is the proper name for any cat with medium or long fur, if it is not a pedigreed member of a recognized breed. Domestic longhairs come in all the standard cat colours including tabby, tortie, bi-colored etc.
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domestic shorthaired cat (DSH) is the proper name for a shorthaired cat that does not have a pedigree or belong to a recognised cat breed.

Domestic shorthaired cats are characterised by a wide range of colouring and typically 'revert to type' after a few generations, which
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Morris Minor (the prototype was called Mosquito) was launched at the Earls Court Motor Show on 20 September, 1948. Named for an earlier Morris Minor car , it was the work of a team led by Alec Issigonis, who later designed the Mini.
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Morgan Motor Company

Private
Founded 1910
Founder H.F.S. Morgan
Headquarters Malvern, Worcestershire, United Kingdom

Key people Peter Morgan owner (1959 - 2003)
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Desmond Morris (born 24 January 1928 in the village of Purton, north Wiltshire, UK) is most famous for his work as a zoologist and ethologist. He was educated at Dauntsey's School, a boys' independent school in West Lavington, Wiltshire, and then at the University of Birmingham and
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