Friday, April 17, 2009

Let Me Introduce Myself....

My new humans have a habit of naming cats after cartoon (or tv) characters OR great aviators.

Years before any of us lived here the male human started taking care of a feral cat who he named Baracca, after a famous, Italian WW1 fighter pilot who happened to be from the town just next to ours. You could say he was the Red Barron of Italy. Well, last year a grouchy reddish cat showed up at our house, in desperate need of a good meal. He is a skittish thing who still won't let ANYONE get close enough to touch him. Once it became clear that the vagabond was going to continue showing up at our house for three squares a day, the humans decided that they had to name him. Since they already had one feral cat named after a WW1 fighter pilot (and the fact that he was red) the Red Barron became the obvious choice. So that is how he came to be known as Manfred Von Richtofen, but he is lovingly called Manny for short.

Years before either of these cats even existed, Opus was named after the fat little penguin from the County Bloom comic strip. Of course he will tell you that he was named Opus because that is the Latin word for "great work". Shhhhh, don't tell him I told you the truth!

So when it came to naming me, the humans had two choices: name me after a comic strip like Opus or name me after a great pilot like the feral cats were. The first thing that came to the female human's mind was Amelia after Amelia Earhart, a pioneer in aviation. The male countered with the name Olive after Olive Oyl from the Popeye comic strip.

Everything thought the name Olive suited me as my eyes are olive colored AND I was about to move to a country that is famous for its top notch olive oil. PLUS there was a woman named Olive Beech who made some big contributions to aviation (she was one of the founders of the Beech Aircraft Company. It seemed like the perfect name!

HOWEVER, once I got home the male human started having second thoughts. I was nervous my first week with my new brother and took to growling and hissing any time he got too close. (Hey give me break, it was a long journey to get here and I was under a lot of stress). The male human started saying that I was a little witch which made him think of a character from the Scrooge McDuck comic strip. She was a witch from Naples who wanted to steal Scrooge McDuck's first magic dime. Her wish was to throw it into Mt. Vesuvius to release its magic so that she could use it. In the Italian version of the comic strip the witch, who was called Magica De Spell in the English version, was called none other than Amelia!

At the end of the day, no one could pick which name to use because they liked both names equally and that is why they have decided to use BOTH names.

I am officially known as Olive Amelia Patches (Patches was my original name)! But my friends can call me Ollie! It is a big name to live up to, but I will do my best!

Thank you to everyone who voted for my name! I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you!

PS. Don't tell Opus that I hijacked the blog. I thought it needed a little bit of girl's touch!

18 comments:

Jans Funny Farm said...

Well, we guess that's settled! Good to meet you, uh, uh... We won't ever remember all that.

Daisy said...

Dear Miss Olive Amelia Patches,
I think you have a very wonderful name. And since I hope we will be good friends, I would like to call you Ollie! You can come visit Harley and me anytime!

Samantha & Mom said...

That is a beautiful name Olive Amelia Patches and we are very pleased to meet you! Come on over to Florida in July and we will take you and Opus to the Nascar Races!!
Your FL furiends,
and Maverick

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

Hi Ollie, we thinks you have a great name and we love the pink girly touches you have added to the blog. ~Scylla & Charybdis

Hi Ollie, we are very pleased to meet you. ~Socks & Fenris

Sassy Kat said...

Good that your humans put so much thought into naming you! They are very caring and loving as you will soon discover, but I know you know that already.
I love the name Olive, that is the name that moth knows you as along with aka Patches. Opus and Ollie, that has a nice ring to it.
I do love the decorating that you have done to this place. It is nice to see a woman's touch in things. The guys do OK but we know women rule in the decorating department. Hope Opus is man cat enough to leave it girlie.
Welcome, it is so good to have you in the family!!!!!!

Gemini and Ichiro said...

I'm glad you have a lovely name, Olive Amelia Patches.

Just Ducky said...

Well that is a good choice to use both, they fit you quite well.

Thanks for stopping by to say hello. In football news John Madden is retiring from broadcasting. Just about three months until training camp.

Sassy Kat said...

Checking to see if Opus has turned up yet, I know he isn't at the station, if you know what I mean.

Jans Funny Farm said...

Sassy is very enigmatic. Opus isn't at the station? You all have such a strange way of communicating.

We just came by to say we hope we weren't rude when we said we won't ever remember all your names. We just have short memories. We inherited them from Jan.

But we're glad Opus has a sister.

The Cat Realm said...

Welcome Olive Amelia Patches! We are so glad you are living with Opus, Ollie! And we are glad you weren't named for the Scrooge McDuck comic strip witch because her name in German is "Gundel Gaukely" and that is NOT a nice name! Hahahahahahaha.
And we admire you flight skills, you commandeered that MFV as if you'd never done anything else in your life! Brava bellissima!
Karl

Mr. Hendrix said...

What a great story! I love hearing how my friends got their names. We think you'll do a great job living up to your names. Ollie is a very pretty nickname.

We love the look of the blog too!

Shilgiah the Cat said...

I was fun to read the history of your name. What a wonderful name it is Olive Amelia Patches! My name is Hope or sometimes my sister Shigiah calls me Little Miss Hissy Fit.

Anonymous said...

Of course I read all emailing about you and your name, but I had no help to reply. I would certainly have voted for Amelia Earhart, but Olive Amelia Patches is even more BEAUTIFUL!!

Welcome, girl!!

Gentle headbutts and (((hugs)))
~Ruis

ps -- On our honeymoon through space, Karl and I have met some very special people. I think we can arrange a meeting for you, too. How wonderful would it be to meet the woman you're named after....

Sassy Kat said...

I know where you two went after Karl's party. Ha, ha, ha, ha. I hear there is a photo about this one.

The Crew said...

Hi Ollie. We're glad your first name is Olive 'cause that was our choice!

The Crew

The Cat Realm said...

Happy Earth Day!
And we are sooooo sorry that pretty much only moments after you joined "the gang" you already were in the slammer. Believe me - we are not always like this. Hmmm.... maybe I should take that back.
And make sure to not ever go to Pisa.....

Charlemagne and Tamar said...

Well hello, Miss Olive Amelia Patches! We so glad that you have a lovely new home with a handsome new brother and sweet parents to take care of you.

We look forward to hear more about your adventures!

Charlemagne and Tamar

Anonymous said...

We love your name. We voted for Olive - so we're exta pleased.