# When did 'mouse' become a verb for anything other than a cat?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [September 1, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449 "2009-09-01T04:22:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/1 "2009-09-01T04:22:51Z")
Cats are mousers, go mousing, and one might legitimately say they do in fact mouse.
But now I see that mouse has become a verb for the rest of us, thanks to computers. “I mouse right-handed”. Puh leaz!
Dag nabbit! The kids these days!
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### Author:  [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2009, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/2 "2009-09-01T06:20:37Z")
Do you have a problem with others who mouse?
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2009, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/3 "2009-09-01T07:18:45Z")
I just walked past Dvlette and moused up her hair. She was quite cheesed off.
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### Author:  [@StaudtCJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StaudtCJ)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2009, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/4 "2009-09-01T07:25:08Z")
I’m sure she was trapped by the feeling, as well.
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2009, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/5 "2009-09-01T13:03:39Z")
A mouse is also a tool, for electrical contractors, it is used todraw cables along a path, such as through conduit.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2009, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/6 "2009-09-01T13:07:29Z")
I thought that was a snake.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/7 "2009-09-01T13:11:04Z")
Just about any noun in English can be verbed. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/8 "2009-09-01T14:12:30Z")
Oh, yeah, that noun is so boring, just sitting there. Let’s make it pop. Let’s verb it!
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### Author:  [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/9 "2009-09-01T14:26:03Z")
One of my cats is actually named “Mouse”. It gets confusing…
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/10 "2009-09-01T15:26:32Z")
The first mice were small, grey, and had long tails. It’s been a verb since then, because it had to describe something that had never been done before.
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### Author:  [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/11 "2009-09-02T00:29:51Z")
> [@Giles](#):
>
> Just about any noun in English can be verbed. 🙂
Indeed, as Calvin demonstrated in 1993:
[Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language - Steven Pinker - Google Books](http://books.google.com/books?id=vUrN4kEWbPYC&pg=PA157#v=onepage&q=&f=false) (bottom of page)
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2009, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/12 "2009-09-02T09:27:39Z")
> [@Giles](#):
>
> Just about any noun in English can be verbed. 🙂
I thought it was verbulated… 🙂
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2009, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-mouse-become-a-verb-for-anything-other-than-a-cat/508449/13 "2009-09-02T09:31:31Z")
> [@Giles](#):
>
> Just about any noun in English can be verbed. 🙂
And prepositions can be adjected.