Reprinted from i Saluti, October 1998

Cat Daddy Car

Dear Alfisti,

Cat daddy car?

I was working on the new ’66 Sprint GTV when a gas-meter reader stopped by. “What are you working on?” he asked. “I’m removing the rust before I paint the car,” I say. He carefully looks over the engine compartment and says, “That’s not the standard engine is it? It looks like a racing engine.” I say, “No, that’s the stock engine.”

There is a bit more discussion and then he says, “Oh, I get it, this is your cat daddy car.” I pause and reply, “Ah yeah, I guess so.”

In thinking about this conversation, it occurred to me that “cat daddy” might be a good name for this car. But before the official christening, I need to know what “cat daddy” means. So, could someone more urban-oriented please enlighten me?

I looked at some of Yahoo’s slang dictionaries, and although I now know what “cave boy” means, I still don’t know the meaning of “cat daddy”.

--Rich Hirsch

Ahh, “catdaddy”, the conglomeration of two words - the first, “cat”, meaning a fur-lined feline creature, the second, “daddy”, meaning parental heritage of the male persuasion. put together, “catdaddy.” I haven’t got a clue what it means.

You said, “I looked at some of Yahoo’s slang dictionaries, and although I now know what ‘cave boy’ means, I still don’t know the meaning of ‘catdaddy’.”

Ahh, “cave boy” - it didn’t have my picture there, did it?

--Brian Shorey

I had my crack research team, a/k/a Mom, work on this question, knowing that she is the proud possessor of two-thirds of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang (mercifully, both “cat” and “daddy” fall early in the dictionary, as the third and final volume has yet to be published). Here is what she said:

“Hi Elie — you are onto fresh slang — the term does not specifically appear in the dictionary of slang. However, ‘cat’ is there with many meanings, the first of which is promiscuous woman, prostitute. Others relate to devotee (as in jazz), prison informer, tractors, etc.”

“In Black English, ‘cat’ as a verb means to roam around, especially at night. ‘Daddy’ has as its first definition, older man in prostitute lingo and not too far down the list is pimp.”

“I suspect that a cat daddy car would be what we’ve called a pimp mobile but it sounds like the questioner is thinking of something like a car to prowl around in and impress the chicks with ...”

Hmm... I can’t say ’66 Sprint GTV quite fits the pimpmobile image. For some reason the Milano (75) was a very popular car with the local drug dealers - for many years we wondered why our Alfa dealer was in such a rundown neighborhood; with the coming of the crack boom it turned out they simply had been prescient. But a GTV pimpmobile? There isn’t enough headroom for the obligatory pimp hat! (cat daddy hat?)

--Elie Spiesel

While I appreciate your effort and your reply, I’m not sure I like the negative connotation of your definition: “... I suspect that a cat daddy car would be what we’ve called a pimp mobile ...”

I previously got a definition of cat daddy from a friend that’s more plugged into Urban Culture than I am (i.e., he watches a lot of Fox TV and occasionally even watches the WB Network). His definition is: “A ‘cat daddy’ is a cool guy. Consequently, a ‘cat daddy car’ is a car used for picking up chicks. In other words, a babe magnet. According to my source, cat daddy cars are usually older cars, such as '60s Corvettes.”

As to your comment about there not being enough room in a ’66 GTV for “the obligatory pimp hat,” one might overcome this problem by adjusting the rake of the seat back. One could not, however, overcome the problem of much-too-limited ho capacity.

--Rich Hirsch

Besides the problem of much-too-limited ho capacity, there is not enough room on the rear parcel shelf to have cat daddy-type relationships.

“Well, your honor, while the rear parcel shelf activity in my ’66 GTV may have been ‘inappropriate’, it did not involve pimping out ho’s...”

--Brian Shorey