# Kitty-corner vs catty-corner **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 28, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409 "2012-11-28T21:48:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/1 "2012-11-28T21:48:17Z")
Which term do you prefer when describing a piece of furniture placed diagonally near the corner of a room? ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/2 "2012-11-28T21:50:10Z")
I use kitty-corner, but the actual phrase is cater-corner. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/3 "2012-11-28T21:53:00Z")
I agree. You should at least include the correct term (catercorner) in your choices, just for us stodgy traditionalists. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/4 "2012-11-28T21:54:27Z")
I use kitty corner. I never knew about the actual name, nor catty corner. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/5 "2012-11-28T23:18:52Z")
My father always used catty wumpus. I’m guessing about the spelling here. Personally, I usually heard catty corner from just about everyone else, so that’s what I used. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/6 "2012-11-28T23:24:06Z")
It depends on how old the furniture is from 0 to 9 months is it unquestionable kitty corner past that catty is acceptable but kitty corner is sometimes still appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/7 "2012-11-28T23:40:56Z")
My ol’ paw would say “Slaunchwise.” He’d call the Bishop, in Chess, a “Side-Hill Gouger.” Poetical old cuss… ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/8 "2012-11-28T23:41:53Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > My father always used catty wumpus. I’m guessing about the spelling here. Personally, I usually heard catty corner from just about everyone else, so that’s what I used. i’m with ms bodoni’s father cattywopus. a good word that works for crooked as well as diagonal. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/9 "2012-11-28T23:50:23Z")
However you say it or write it, this is a new usage for me. Furniture placed diagonally in a corner of a room? The phrase that I grew up with was “kitty-corner” (as used by my father), referring to buildings (or whatever) diagonally across from each other at the intersection of two streets. Example: “The Subway Sandwich Shoppe is at Sylvan and McHenry, kitty-corner from the Bank of America.” It was only well after my larval phase that I first heard the “catty corner” (or similar catty) form, and furthermore learned (from reading Wikipedia, IIRC) that it was the more standard version. ETA: Years ago there was a king, or military dictator, or something in Thailand or Cambodia or some S. E. Asia place, named Thanom Kittikachorn. Every time I saw that name in the news, I read it as kitty-corner. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/10 "2012-11-28T23:54:38Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > However you say it or write it, this is a new usage for me. Furniture placed diagonally in a corner of a room? > > The phrase that I grew up with was “kitty-corner” (as used by my father), referring to buildings (or whatever) diagonally across from each other at the intersection of two streets. Example: “The Subway Sandwich Shoppe is at Sylvan and McHenry, kitty-corner from the Bank of America.” This. For the furniture, I’d just say it was placed diagonally in a corner. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/11 "2012-11-29T00:16:20Z")
Well the furniture thing was just the easiest example I could think of but two buildings diagonally facing eachother across an intersection is another good use of the term. My sincerest apologies for not including the old fashioned real term. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/12 "2012-11-29T02:09:51Z")
This just _has_ to be a generational difference. I’m 68, and never heard “kitty-corner.” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/13 "2012-11-29T02:42:53Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > This just _has_ to be a generational difference. > > I’m 68, and never heard “kitty-corner.” Well I’m 61 and when I was growing up it was always kitty-corner. So apparently it’s not so generational. Maybe regional? Furthermore, my father was also the first and only person who I ever heard use the word “keister” (however you want to spell it), until I was a young adult. At which time, Ronald Reagan famously said it publicly and suddently EVERYBODY was saying it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/14 "2012-11-29T03:56:36Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > ETA: Years ago there was a king, or military dictator, or something in Thailand or Cambodia or some S. E. Asia place, named Thanom Kittikachorn. Every time I saw that name in the news, I read it as kitty-corner. Thailand. Military dictator. 1963-73. (For most of 1958 too, but his real power was 1963-73.) As for the OP, I learned “catty-corner,” but also only for building locations, never furniture. Grew up in West Texas. I hear “kitty-corner” sometimes, and it always strikes me as odd. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/15 "2012-11-29T04:09:42Z")
I’ve never thought of cattycorner and catawampus as being related, but they probably are. For me, catawampus is something that’s messed up or broken down or just crooked. Anyway, cattycorner is more familiar to me. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/16 "2012-11-29T04:15:52Z")
I think I remember both, but it always referred to something (such as a house) that was on the diagonally opposite corner of a street intersection. Never heard it used as the OP used it. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/17 "2012-11-29T04:20:22Z")
I’ve always and only said catercorner. I’ve heard ‘cati-corner’ spoken, but in no way does the spelling you’re using look remotely correct, even for that elision. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/18 "2012-11-29T04:38:16Z")
kitty-corner, first heard when I was about 3. Never heard the alternate “catty-corner”. Northern mid-west region (Madison to Chicago), I suspect region has a lot to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/19 "2012-11-29T04:46:42Z")
There’s a shop near me called [Kitty Corner.](http://www.kittykornerdoorcounty.com/) And yes, they do have a cat on the counter. When their previous cat died, it made the front page news of the local paper. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409/20 "2012-11-29T05:01:58Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Which term do you prefer when describing a piece of furniture placed diagonally near the corner of a room? “Diagonal[ly]” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitty-corner-vs-catty-corner/642409.md?page=2)