I'm doing a stupid little story involving cats to take my mind off the big thing for a bit and the first line is already giving me issues. How would a cat address several other cats? "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury" doesn't seem like the way to go. "Mollies and toms of the jury" isn't working for me either and I only just now found out that a female cat is called a molly, unless she is pregnant, in which case she is called a queen and I sure as Hell ain't doing that. Any suggestions?
My fellow cats? Ladies and Gentlemen doesn't seem so far fetched to me as your cats are anyway speaking, but what sort of vibe are you trying to create? Is it comedy? Serious? Are the cats hyper-civilised or more cat? What age group are you targetting?
"Toms and Tabbies, and all you Alleys out there too... " Maybe throw in a "Tiny tigers, little lions and miniature meerkats" or something. Ok, meerkats aren't actually cats, I know, just throwing out ideas to inspire. They do think they're jungle stalkers no matter what their size. Is it literally taking place in a court?
Felinus and felina if you're going for formality? But that might be a little too formal, assuming you're addressing a modern American court and not a Roman forum.
"Hello my fellow Felines and Tomcats" Ok that sounds weird or maybe "Hello cats" ok that sounds weirder.
"What's hopping, my cool cats and fast felines?" *pants magically grow bell-bottoms and disco ball descends from the ceiling*
But if it's supposed to be plural (i.e. the analog to "Ladies and Gentlemen") it should be "Felinae et felini."
That sounds French. Maybe if the cats are French, I imagined them saying, "Madame would you like a cuppa to your croissant?" lol.
Actually, it's Latin. "Felinus" and "felina" are the singular masculine and feminine forms, respectively. The corresponding plural forms are felini and felinae. For example, look at "alumnus": https://www.dictionary.com/e/alumni-vs-alumnus/
I might try and keep the reader in the dark about what creatures they're reading about for a while, though I doubt I'll be able to do that properly. I'm not targeting anyone specific, really. It's supposed to be just a little bit of scribbling to keep myself busy while I figure out what to do with the real novel. It's definitely not going to be serious. I don't do serious very well. The cats would be just cats, mainly. I'm setting it in the universe from the main novel and the premise would be one cat coming before a council of other cats (because whether we like it or not, the little furry bastards have shit going on when we're not watching, I'm sure of it) to discuss the grievous case of a missing piece of string with a feather at the end. Or a squeaky mouse toy. Not sure yet. It's partly based on a true story. I will definitely be playing with the innate arrogance of cats, yes. I was thinking about a court at first, but I'm not very well versed on legal proceedings and I figured this wouldn't be the kind of story worth educating myself for, beyond googling "female cat"... Which is a risky endeavor when you are at work, I've discovered. I kinda like this, actually. It would at least start out rather formal. That sounds more like a director. I know you're correct, but it just sounds... off.
Yes, this would be correct. But I still think "cool cats and fast felines" is the best suggestion yet.
So, back to the original question: I have probably mentioned in other discussions that one of my favorite authors was Anne McCaffrey. She just happened to have a couple of books set on a planet (Doona) shared between Earth people and a vaguely-humanoid feline species. One of the ways she reinforced the feline-ness (to coin a word) of the cat species was to accent the 'R' sound anythime they spoke a word with an 'R' in it -- such as "trip" > "trrrip," or "draw" > "drrraw." This, of course, is a play on cats' propensity to purr when content. So, in this context, rather (or "rrrather") than trying for a "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury" analog, how about "Distinguished memberrrs of the panel"?
This, or a variation thereof, was what I decided on, about an hour ago. But not the purr. In general, anyway. I might put in an Eartha Kitt-type of character in, but I'll burn that bridge when I cross it. Or this. Maybe I'll go with this.
