Talk:Cat's cradle

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[edit] Etymology

I noted that the Oxford English Dictionary disputes the 'cratch-cradle' derivation. Oxford gives this etymology:

Origin probably fanciful: the guess that it ‘may have been’ cratch-cradle is not founded on facts. (Second Edition 1989)

Since Oxford states it "is not founded on facts", should we be advocating an etymology it implies is false and nothing more than conjecture? Can anyone give a reliable source to counter Oxford's claim?

--Dforest 04:17, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

In 1906 Haddon (Jayne, p.2) said "no satisfactory derivation has ever been givey (see Murray N.E.D.)." Hyacinth 23:07, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

fuzzy game and joy —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.196.117.74 (talk) 01:03, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The novel

I removed the below

The game of cat's cradle is featured as a motif in Kurt Vonnegut's 1963 novel Cat's Cradle. Early in the book, we learn that Felix Hoenikker, fictional "Father of the Atomic Bomb" was playing cat's cradle when Hiroshima was destroyed. The game is later referred to by Newt Hoenikker, Felix's dwarf son, who describes the game by saying "No damn cat, and no damn Cradle"; thus expressing his view that the concepts and ideals taught by all human parents to their children are arbitrary conventions, and that life itself is essentially meaningless.

Felix uses the game as a metaphor. What we are really looking at is a meaningless piece of string, but in the game of cat's cradle we are choosing to see grand and complex objects that are not really there.

Hyacinth 02:57, 18 July 2007 (UTC) fuzzy cats may be hurt in this prosses if you try the game...

at this time you may want to run in cirles to help the nation wide prosses!Media:Example.ogg