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I tend to regard this as peculiarly Australian, though I know that it comes from a pet name for "Margaret". I'm familiar with the term because of the Eric Bogle song He's Nobody's Moggy Now. Eclecticology

Eric Bogle is of UK origin. He came to Australia as an adult (he even wrote a song about it :)) I figured that the term was English/Australian. Seriously, what do they call common-or-garden domestic cats in other countries? We should add it. KJ

The only term I've ever heard (other than roundabout descriptions like ordinary cat, regular cat, non-purebred cat, etc.) in Canada is moggy. - Montréalais
In America, it's just a plain ol' mixed-breed cat. Maybe I'll try to get people to start using the word "moggy" :) [[User:Lachatdelarue|Lachatdelarue (talk)]]


I'm from Australia, and 'Moggy' was definately slang for 'cat' whilst growing up... and the schoolyard explanation of the word is that it was from the schoolyard joke: 'How do you spell cat?' ... "M-o-g" (write it on paper each letter above the other. M = ears, o = head, g = body + tail). If cat is spelt m-o-g, it's only natural to pronounce it as 'mog' too :) Has anyone else heard this origin? If so, it should go into the article proper... --Nemo 01:19, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

This is a back-formation. I've never come across this in Britain, although 'moggy' is the common colloquial term for a cat. John G Walker 14:35, 26 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I was surprised to read that the term was first recorded as late as 1911. Does anypone have a refernce for this? The fact that 'moggy' is in use for a cat in Britain but not the USA suggests that its origin dates from after 1776, but the fact that it's found in Australia and Canada would make me suspect that it dates from the nineteenth century not the early twentieth. However, I'm not a sociolinguist so I'm willing to be put right by anyone who has the facts. John G Walker 14:35, 26 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Why the obsession with the health or sickliness of feral cats in the first paragraph of this entry? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.33.242.164 (talk) 02:57, 1 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Why moggy?

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Where did the word originated from? Stonerchic42069 (talk) 04:28, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wiktionary states 'Unknown, but probably originally Mog + -y, a Scots or Northern English variant of maggie (“girl”), from Maggie, a diminutive of Margaret and Margery. First attested in reference to mongrel cats in Cockney.'. If you're asking for an etymology section, I suppose it could be added if a reliable source can be found to support anything. Traumnovelle (talk) 06:46, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't understand why this was redirected?

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I have literally never heard moggy used for a domestic shorthair cat. I am from Texas. You took a perfectly fine globally known, veterinary understood term for DSH and redirected into a very localized colloquialism Simmy27star (talk) 11:53, 3 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Moggy is a term used throughout the Commonwealth. Domestic shorthair is a fancier neologism that doesn't include medium or longhaired cats. There was no proper article to compare pedigreed cats to non-pedigreed cats before I created this. The other title I had before was 'random-bred cat' but this is far more obscure. I've made an argument below and I'd appreciate replying there to centralise the discussion. Traumnovelle (talk) 20:16, 3 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Move To Domestic Shorthair

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Domestic shorthair is the correct term for this variety of cat. "Moggy" is a bizarre and unknown colloquialism.—chbarts (talk) 19:12, 3 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Domestic shorthair is a recently coined term by cat fanciers that only applies to short-haired cats, and not medium or long-haired cats. Moggy is a well known term in the Commonwealth and I'm not aware of any suitable title that is also used in American English. I initially went with 'mixed-breed cat' for a title but decided against it due to the title being erroneous. Random-bred cat was another term I used but it is far more unrecognisable and natural than moggy. Moggy is simply the best title per the WP:CRITERIA. Domestic cat (landrace) is not something a person will naturally search for, has parentheses which is discouraged, and is not precise as there are landrace breeds (or at least claimed to be) such as the Thai cat and Turkish Van.
The term bach would probably surprise you, but it is the title of the article because there is no other term to naturally describe it. American English lacking a term to describe non-pedigreed cats cannot be helped. Traumnovelle (talk) 20:14, 3 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The proper, globally understood title for this page needs to be Domestic cat (landrace) which will include sections for both the domestic shorthair and domestic longhair. People will search for domestic shorthair and domestic longhair, and be redirected to the page for Domestic cat (landrace), the whole point of the parenthesis is to specify that it is talking about the basic domestic cat found all over the world. Just because I added in landrace to specify does not mean that I've erased the presence of the other landrace breeds. As for your example of bach, using a localized term to describe a localized architecture/building found in that specific place is not the same as trying to push a word unknown to the rest of English-speaking countries about an animal that exists on essentially every continent on Earth. I don't care about the Commonwealth, I have not cared since 1776. See: french fries, cookie, etc. I won't force you to call biscuits a cookie if you won't force me to call a cat a moggy. Simmy27star (talk) 11:50, 4 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 4 September 2024

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The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. Many people don't like the current title, but almost nobody likes the proposed title, and none of the other proposed titles gained traction either. (non-admin closure) —Compassionate727 (T·C) 20:17, 13 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Moggy → Domestic cat (landrace) – Wikipedia is a worldwide resource. Cats are found worldwide. There is no place for a localized colloquialism to be a MAIN page reference on Wikipedia. I am located in the United States and never once have I ever heard the term “moggy” used to refer to a cat. The merging of Domestic short-haired cat and Domestic long-haired cat was an appropriate move as the only difference is the gene for hair growth. However, I don’t understand why a slang term page was revived from like, 2007 to merge the two pages together. Wikipedia Manual of Style in the Opportunities for Commonality section states that as an international English-speaking Wikipedia, using universally accepted terms is much more appropriate. For example, “to mog” or “mogging” in Gen Alpha terms - see mog. Nobody outside of Britian or Australia even knows what a moggy is. To make things messier, there were previous merges and fights about “moggy” vs. “moggie.” Y’all do not need a page for your local colloquialism. Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Opportunities for commonality bullet points 1-4. My new write-up for the beginning of the new article also explains this landrace breed, using hyphenation glossing as is suggested by the Manual of Style:

A Domestic shorthair or Domestic longhair cat, sometimes regionally referred to as a moggy, is a landrace breed of cat reproducing without human intervention for type. The vast majority of cats worldwide lack any pedigree ancestry. The landrace can include cats living with humans or in feral colonies. Gene flow moves between the two populations as feral cats are tamed, housecats are released, and free-roaming unneutered cats breed freely. Simmy27star (talk) 11:37, 4 September 2024 (UTC) — Relisting.  ASUKITE 16:03, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There are many articles on Wikipedia that use a local variety of English for a term, see trunk (car).
>using universally accepted terms is much more appropriate
American English lacks a term to describe a moggy, this cannot be helped.
Landrace is an erroneous term, see the landrace definition from the OED: 'A locally developed breed'.
If you look at our category: Category:Cat_landraces you will see what it refers to. Traumnovelle (talk) 18:58, 4 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Note: WikiProject Cats and WikiProject Mammals have been notified of this discussion. ASUKITE 16:03, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Those are not natural term. Wiley has more results for 'moggy' than both terms combined. This slang term has more usage in veterinary literature than the ones you propose, and it is far more recognisable as a common name. Traumnovelle (talk) 21:03, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Chbarts: when you wrote "correct globally-understood term", did you mean Domestic cat, or Domestic cat (landrace), the original proposed move? Wikishovel (talk) 08:46, 20 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Wikishovel: sorry, I meant Domestic cat.—chbarts (talk) 09:05, 20 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Domestic cat already redirects to Cat. YorkshireExpat (talk) 20:18, 20 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It looks like landrace refers to breeds or species that only show up on an island. The Domestic Cat does not apply. The Domestic Shorthair is a well-known type of cat. There are 80 million in the U.S. alone. The majority of cats in the world are Domestic Shorthairs, so that should be the name of the article, and focus of the article. I read that moggy is similar to the term mutt used for dogs. Domestic shorthairs do have a history. Many breeders include DSH cats into their breeding program to make the breed they are creating healthier. All breeds are mixed. Wikipedia was founded in the U.S., so I think that the spelling should be in American English. British English could be used just for topics that pertain only to that, such as the British monarchy. You might want to explain what Commonwealth means when you mentioned that. Having a state emblem that is a domestic shorthair, tabby, calico, shelter animal, etc. is a big deal in the U.S., so that is another reason for DSH to remain the title of the article. See, this is why educators want to sue Wikipedia. Let's get this right. God save the King! Kinfo Pedia (talk) 14:10, 6 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
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