# What does the term "purring" refer to? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 24, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243 "2011-12-24T03:20:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243/21 "2011-12-24T06:59:53Z")
> [@Sally\_Mander](#): > > One of the best moments from _My Name Is Earl_: > Randy, uncomfortably holding a cat: “Uh-oh, it’s making that weird I-like-you noise.” Bucky (the Siamese cat from “Get Fuzzy”) uses purring to lure people into getting close enough for him to rip them up - “That’s not purring!” We’ve got a part Siamese cat who likes to purr while she’s playing roughly with teeth and claws - we like to say that while she’s trying to open up our skin. To address the OP, I agree with everyone else - cat’s have a lot of ways to communicate with us, and purring is only part of it. I wouldn’t call the chirping, meowing, mewling, whining, snarling, growling, trilling, moaning or mooing purring. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243/22 "2011-12-24T10:44:13Z")
It’s when a cat goes prrRRRRrrrRRRR and vibrates like the smallest jackhammer ever. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243/23 "2011-12-24T13:02:35Z")
Have you ever stepped on a cat’s tail? That sound ain’t purring. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243/24 "2011-12-24T13:16:13Z")
[This article](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-do-cats-purr)from Scientific American says that a cat’s purr aids healing – which explains the purring during distress or pain. > [@](#): > > Scientists have demonstrated that cats produce the purr through intermittent signaling of the laryngeal and diaphragmatic muscles. Cats purr during both inhalation and exhalation with a consistent pattern and frequency between 25 and 150 Hertz. Various investigators have shown that sound frequencies in this range can improve bone density and promote healing. This also provides a nice scientific definition of the phenomenon 🙂 ---
**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:** [December 24, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243/25 "2011-12-24T14:33:29Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m not a cat owner, but it’s the “low-pitched vibratory sound a cat makes” such as [this.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u38xZsCTCOY) My understanding is that they usually do it when they’re happy. My limited interaction with cats leads me to believe they tend to purr when being petted. That is a fine example of a purr. > [@Taomist](#): > > My cats make a variety of noises, their way of ‘talking’. While I am sure each of them has it’s own meaning, they are nothing like ‘purring’. Purring is sub-vocal. Not necessarily just a sign of contentment…I read it somewhere, possibly HERE, that ‘cats will purr for any reason, even if they’re in the middle of a fight with a mailman AND his dog’. Or something like that. > > But yeah. I would be astounded to find there is any other definition of a cat’s purr than the one that, so far, everyone has voted for. What I’ve read is that cats purr when they are not aggressive, and they want to assure someone/something else of this non-aggressiveness. So a cat might purr when it’s in distress, to signal that it doesn’t intend to claw your eyeballs out. One of our cats will purr when he plays, even if he’s playing rough. This guy purrs SO much that on his first vet visit, the vet couldn’t get him to stop purring long enough to listen to his heart. The vet finally tried putting him in the sink…but Charlie just kept on purring. Cats can and will also growl, and usually it’s pretty easy to tell that it’s a growl. Here’s a cat showing all kinds of displeasure: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXLxM0u1aJw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXLxM0u1aJw) ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243/26 "2011-12-24T14:46:26Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Interesting. I’ve never thought of the figurative use as implying _sarcasm_, because sarcasm is not necessarily about satisfaction. I think the connection to _catty_ is coincidental. Here’s the OED:Somehow I just don’t connect seductiveness to sarcasm, which is about being caustic, rather than pleased. That’s what I thought, but when I went to look it up, I found [this](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/purr): > [@Merriam-Webster](#): > > a : to speak in a manner that resembles a purr > b : to speak in a malicious catty manner ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243/27 "2011-12-24T15:17:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > ‘When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ > > 😛 There’s glory for you. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243/28 "2011-12-25T17:40:12Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > ‘When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ > > 😛 If I don’t like someone, I always think to myself that they can go and Public Library themselves. They’re complete and utter migratory routes in my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243/29 "2011-12-25T22:59:24Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > Thanks for the replies. My sister has insisted that any sound a cat makes can be refered to as purring. She says that when a dog says “woof” it is called barking and when a cat says “meow” it is called purring. I have countered that the latter is meowing, or mewing, or mewling. We then asked both of my parents who agreed with her. Apparently, however, I am right which along with my Scrabble win will allow me to continue to lord it over her for the next day or two. > > FWIW, my cats not only purr and meow, they also trill and chatter (and bitch and moan that I don’t feed them enough). I think that your family’s opinion is just enough evidence for them to be institutionalized in 48 states… Joe ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243/30 "2011-12-30T00:20:51Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > If I don’t like someone, I always think to myself that they can go and Public Library themselves. > > They’re complete and utter migratory routes in my eyes. Did Stephen Fry say this? I hear it in my head in his voice. (Please take this as a compliment if he didn’t.) ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243/31 "2011-12-30T00:23:04Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > Thanks for the replies. My sister has insisted that any sound a cat makes can be refered to as purring. . Looks like your sister is the only person who voted for that option. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-term-purring-refer-to/607243.md?page=1)