Cat Calls

This week, a Finnish co-worker of mine pointed out a bizarre coincidence between Finnish and English, involving cats.

In Finnish, when one tries to get the attention of a cat (“kissa”), one says: “kiss, kiss, kiss”.

In English, one says: “puss, puss, puss” (short for “pussy cat”).

And weirdly, “pus” (pronounced “pooss”) means “kiss” in Finnish (short for “pusu”).

I can imagine that might lead to some misunderstanding within Anglo-Finnish couples!