Straight Dope Message Board

[flatlined]

I like to think that he wouldn't have picked something as mundane as Fluffy for the half dead cat. What you do you folks think?

[Ethilrist]

Well, just open the box and see what it says on his collar. If he's wearing one.

[kunilou]

The cat only had half a name. Or it had two names simultaneously. I never figured out which.

[flatlined]

Originally Posted by Ethilrist

Well, just open the box and see what it says on his collar. If he's wearing one.

He probably only has half a collar, and I'll probably be mostly dead if I open the box.

Originally Posted by kunilou

The cat only had half a name. Or it had two names simultaneously. I never figured out which.

Hmmmm...I need to go roll in catnip while I think about that. You are right.

[Tethered Kite]

Her name was May Bea.

[BubbaDog]

Originally Posted by kunilou

The cat only had half a name. Or it had two names simultaneously. I never figured out which.

Some would argue that it either had a name or it didn't.

[flatlined]

Originally Posted by Tethered Kite

Her name was May Bea.

I so love you!!! I wants to have your babies and subscribe to your newsletter. Best answer ever!!!

[Tethered Kite]

Originally Posted by flatlined

I so love you!!! I wants to have your babies and subscribe to your newsletter. Best answer ever!!!

flatlined! You can't have my babies (actually they are adult children) because they have to stay here and help me finish celebrating Mother's Day.

[flatlined]

Happy Mother's Day!!! Adult kids are always good, they can work harder and don't us table forks to dig in the flowerbeds.

While I was looking around, I found this. I think its the best one I've ever seen/heard.

And I think that you had the best answer about the mane.

[Infovore]

I don't know the cat's name, but I figured this was a good time to re-post the Master's epic poem on the topic for anyone who hasn't seen it.

[Jackmannii]

"Lucky".

[terentii]

"Proton," if he was a tom; "Neutron," if he was fixed.

And, I suppose, "Electra," if she was a queen.

[Asympotically fat]

|tiddles>+|the late tiddles>

[TriPolar]

Toonces. That cat was dead half the time.

[tdn]

Originally Posted by Tethered Kite

Her name was May Bea.

Shirley, you can't be serious.

[silenus]

Schrodinger was wrong.

In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious. Greebo went off like a Claymore mine.

-- Schrodinger's Moggy explained (Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)

[cochrane]

"Excuse me, Professor Schroedinger, but have you seen my cat?"

"Maybe I have, and maybe I haven't."

[cougar58]

qubit

[BrotherCadfael]

Heinlein claimed his name was Pixel.

[Marley23]

Adam?

[Yumblie]

Originally Posted by Asympotically fat

|tiddles>+|the late tiddles>

Schroedinger's ket?

[Tangent]

Izzy

[EmilyG]

Lazarus.

[Mangetout]

Do we even know if he had a cat? - I mean, he either did or he didn't.

[don't ask]

I went to school with Schrödinger. He had 2 beagles, Blondi and some other one whose name I don't recall. He was entirely catless as far as I remember.

[Colophon]

Eric. Eric the Half a Cat.


Half a cat, in actual fact,
Might, ipso facto, smell a rat.
But half the cat has got to act
Vis a vis how an atom's at. Got that?

But can a cat be really sat
Upon a mat, under a hat
When half the cat is not a fact
Due to decay in Erwin's vat?

[LeeshaJoy]

In Ian Stewart's Flatterland, the cat was named Superpaws, a play on the word "superposition."

[beagledave]

Taint.

[Novelty Bobble]

Arthur

[brainstall]

Enigma

[TreacherousCretin]

Originally Posted by Tangent

Izzy

Almost as good as "May Bea"; I'm glad I didn't even try.

[Amateur Barbarian]

Well, what was the name of Eddie Mastrewski's cat?

[Half Man Half Wit]

Half Cat Half Dead?

[K364]

Originally Posted by Tangent

Izzy

Perfect!

[Flywheel]

Purrhaps.

[Yeticus Rex]

Lide or Deli.....depending on who/what you're rooting for.

[Spud]

You don't name a dead cat.

What can I say... I'm decisive.


Plus, when you open the box it is easier to "fix" things to meet this paradigm if you are wrong than the other way around.

[flatlined]

You guys are so awesome!!!

It took me a minute to get Izzy and then I laughed like a loon ril.

[cmyk]

Schrödinger asked Heisenberg to come up with the name. However, the more Schrödinger asked Werner about the cat's full, proper name, the less sure he was whether or not it was indeed his cat.

[Tangent]

Originally Posted by flatlined

You guys are so awesome!!!

It took me a minute to get Izzy and then I laughed like a loon ril.

[notfrommensa]

Rhea Carnated

[lieu]

Don't know the dude, musta quit posting before I joined.

[Doctor Jackson]

Ali De

(half Alive, half Dead)

[Martian Bigfoot]

♫
I've done an experiment on a cat with no name,
The results might boggle your brain.
'Cause the kitty in this quantum entanglement game
Both is and isn't (simultaneously) slain.
La, la, la la la...
♫

[CalMeacham]

Originally Posted by terentii

"Proton," if he was a tom; "Neutron," if he was fixed.

And, I suppose, "Electra," if she was a queen.

"We call him Neutron because he's so positive"

--- Dr. Ruth Adams (Faith Domergue) in This Island Earth.


You see -- this is why we don't have a lot of female scientists in our cheesy SF movies (ducks and runs)






I think that asking the name of Schroeedinger's cat must be the modern equivalent of Tiberius asking "what song did the Sirens sing?"

[Didact Lectorem777]

Originally Posted by Tethered Kite

Her name was May Bea.

Assuming its a her. A Male needs something manly, ferocious, with a 'Z'.

Zaum Bea?

[kaylasdad99]

Eigenkatz.

[Chronos]

Quoth Asymptotically Fat:

|tiddles>+|the late tiddles>

You forgot the 1/sqrt(2).

Unless you're just saying that cats are inherently not normalized?

[Hari Seldon]

I just realized that the obvious name is: Wanted

[MacLir]

Originally Posted by cochrane

"Excuse me, Professor Schroedinger, but have you seen my cat?"

"Maybe I have, and maybe I haven't."

"Erwin, what did you do to the cat? He looks half-dead." -- Frau Schrödinger