# Questions about 2 phrases: "Mickey Mouse" and "Bell the cat"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-2-phrases-mickey-mouse-and-bell-the-cat/144459>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 23, 2002, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-2-phrases-mickey-mouse-and-bell-the-cat/144459 "2002-12-23T01:29:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2002, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-2-phrases-mickey-mouse-and-bell-the-cat/144459/21 "2002-12-25T15:41:34Z")

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From this [site](http://www.geocities.com/etymonline/m4etym.htm)

> [@](#):
>
> Mickey mouse (adj.) “small and worthless” is from 1936, originally used especially of mediocre dance-band music, a put-down based on the type of tunes played as background in cartoon films, from the character designed by Walt Disney (1901-66).

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