Today when I returned from my run in the sun near Stately Willard Manor West, I entered the back patio looking for the CEO and the Vice President of Research.
They were having a management meeting — as I have noted before, I am the only non-management employee of the “Trivially Speaking” column.
They were serving multi-grain toast with almond butter at the management meeting. The VP of R was sitting in the CEO’s lap enjoying his tidbits and smugly looking at me.
I remarked to the CEO, “It looks like he’s sitting in the catbird seat.”
He continued to smile and munched another bite of toast as she said, “Yes, he is.”
Then as has happened so many times before, I realized he’d provided me with another inspiration.
How did that analogy appear in our language? The expression, meaning a position of prominence or advantage is a true Americanism.
Its origin dates back to the 19th century, but it was popularized by famed Brooklyn Dodgers’ radio announcer Red Barber in the 1940s.
Red explained that it was a Southern expression for which he had literally paid by continuing to raise with a weak hand in a game of stud poker. His opponent (with a strong hand) met every raise and won the pot.
Following the hand, the winner thanked Barber saying, “Thanks for all those raises. From the start I was sitting in the catbird seat.”
The real catbird (Dumetella carolinensis to those who took hours of Zoology as a math major) is the slate-colored North American thrush. It’s been called a catbird since the early 1700s because its ordinary cry of alarm somewhat resembles the mew of a cat.
Catbirds perch high in a tree’s branches giving them a good view of their surroundings, perhaps leading to the creation of the metaphor.
Humorist James Thurber did his bit to bring additional visibility to the expression with his delightful short story, “The Catbird Seat.”
The Vice President of Research views it as a part of his benefits package and doesn’t care about its origin.
• Here’s an interesting comparison for you: “A comedian says things funny; a wit says funny things.”
• In case you’d like to replicate it for wear around the house, Big Bird’s costume on “Sesame Street” is made of turkey feathers dyed yellow.
• Apparently it was cheaper than sending a film crew to Kansas during tornado season. The tornado in ‘The Wizard of Oz” was a 35-foot long muslin stocking blowing in the wind of a fan and photographed over miniatures of a Kansas farm and fields.
• From the category of “Things You Might Not Know If You Didn’t Read This Column,” Belgium derived its name from the Belgae. The Belgae were a Celtic tribe whom Julius Caesar once called the most courageous of all the tribes inhabiting Gaul.
• Of course, botanists know that Bryology is the branch (no pun intended) of botany that addresses the study of mosses, hornworts and liverworts (not liverwursts). The Greek “Bryon” means moss.
• I’m taking the word of the survey; I have not done my own research. The most commonly ordered drink in U.S. bars is the margarita.
Jim Willard, a Loveland resident since 1967, retired from Hewlett-Packard after 33 years to focus on less trivial things. He calls Twoey, his bichon frisé-Maltese dog, vice president of research for his column.