# What's a "Money" Cat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 29, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721 "2009-07-29T23:17:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/1 "2009-07-29T23:17:03Z")
My late grandmother used to refer to stray cays she would see (usually calico cats0 as “money” cats. What does this term mean? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/2 "2009-07-29T23:27:14Z")
Money cats are another name for calicos, particulalry tortoiseshell calicos. They’re supposed to bring good fortune, although I don’t know what the origin of that is. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/3 "2009-07-29T23:34:55Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > They’re supposed to bring good fortune, although I don’t know what the origin of that is. [Maneki Neko](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneki_Neko) ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/4 "2009-07-29T23:45:49Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > [Maneki Neko](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneki_Neko) Heh. 😃 Actually, when I read “money cat,” the first thing I thought of those as well, the money cat statues in sushi shops. My own not-Japanese-in the-slightest grandmothers both referred to tortiseshell cats as “money cats” as well, though, so I’m guessing that the phrase might have more than one origin (or spread impressively all the way from Japan to rural Texas). ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/5 "2009-07-30T02:31:46Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Money cats are another name for calicos, particulalry tortoiseshell calicos. They’re supposed to bring good fortune . . . So if a black cat and a calico cat cross your path at the same time, what happens? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/6 "2009-07-30T02:35:53Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > [Maneki Neko](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneki_Neko) I also thought of this first. My wife and I lived in China and we often called these “Hitler” cats, because the arm moves up and down like it is heiling Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/7 "2009-07-30T02:41:22Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > So if a black cat and a calico cat cross your path at the same time, what happens? The transmission falls out of your car on the way home from the bank. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/8 "2009-07-30T02:54:28Z")
Is that why there’s a song called the Money Cat in Gay Purrrreee? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/9 "2009-07-30T04:59:16Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > So if a black cat and a calico cat cross your path at the same time, what happens? You get a lot of money – and so the IRS decides to audit you. ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/10 "2009-07-30T09:26:14Z")
The only version of Money Cat that I know of is a Chinese token for prosperity, in shops, restaurants and takeaways. The ones I’ve seen don’t move and look like vastly oversized Christmas tree decorations. Without joking, your grandmother could have picked up the term from a Chinese business ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/11 "2009-07-30T14:50:22Z")
> [@FRDE](#): > > Without joking, your grandmother could have picked up the term from a Chinese business Probably not my grandmothers; I would bet money neither ever ate in a Chinese restaurant in their lifetimes, as odd as that sounds. When I was a kid in the 1970’s there was only one Chinese restaurant in my town, and it was considered a real novelty. They’re everywhere now, of course. I think they’re considered lucky cats in Scotland and Ireland as well as Asia - it’s a recessive X gene thing, somewhat rare (for cats) so it seems logical that different cultures might find them lucky. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/12 "2009-07-30T15:25:41Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > I think they’re considered lucky cats in Scotland and Ireland as well as Asia - it’s a recessive X gene thing, somewhat rare (for cats) so it seems logical that different cultures might find them lucky. Calico isn’t recessive in cats. [The gene for orange fur is on the X chromosome and is therefore sex-linked.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_coat_genetics#Genes_involved_in_orange.2C_black.2C_brown.2C_and_diluted_colors) If a cat has one dominant form of this gene and one recessive (not two recessive), it’s a tortoiseshell or calico. The fact that this gene is on the X chromosome makes _male_ calico or tortoiseshell cats very rare, but it’s not that rare in female cats. You see female calico or tortoiseshell cats in shelters and at cat adoption events all the time. IMO, they are pretty, but I’m probably biased- my Luna is a calico. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/13 "2009-07-30T15:32:22Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > So if a black cat and a calico cat cross your path at the same time, what happens? Kittens, of course! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/14 "2009-07-30T15:58:33Z")
One possible reason for this is that male tortoiseshell cats are quite rare (NOT calico; calicos have white and torties don’t). There are some people willing to pay a fair amount of money for them, although these cats are normally XXY and sterile. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/15 "2009-07-30T16:28:59Z")
[Obligatory kitteh pics](http://www.great-pictures-of-cats.com/image-files/calico-kittens-1.jpg) Jebus, what has this place come to? ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/16 "2009-07-30T16:38:22Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > [Maneki Neko](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneki_Neko) Thanks—I’ve always wondered what those insidiously tacky things were. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-money-cat/504721/17 "2009-07-30T16:40:37Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Thanks—I’ve always wondered what those insidiously tacky things were. That’s where Hello Kitty comes from!