Learn English Vocabulary: CATS!

Are you a cat lover like me? In this lesson, I will teach you English vocabulary about cat behavior, and also teach you how to describe the personality of cats. I’ll also tell you a few stories about my love of cats. I recommend this lesson to you if you like cats and also if you wish to improve your English listening skills. This is a purr-fect vocabulary lesson for cat people!

See how well you understood the lesson by taking the quiz: https://www.engvid.com/learn-english-vocabulary-cats/

Next, watch some other vocabulary videos I've made:
1. TRENDY FASHION WORDS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnIwr2vkb94

2. SPIRITUAL VOCABULARY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52cixIxTKD8

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, everyone. Welcome to my cat lesson. I really love cats, so I'm excited to do this for you today. I'm going to read you a cat poem, I'm going to talk about cat personalities, and I'm going to tell you some stories about my old cat I used to have. Unfortunately, he's dead now, but his name is Mr.... is/was Mr Milo. So, I'll let you know something about Mr Milo as we do the lesson.

Let's begin with a poem. This poem is about cat behavior and also about how a cat changes as it gets older. I'll read it to you now.

Listen, kitten,
Get this clear,
This is my chair.
I sit here.

Okay, kitty
We can share;
When I'm not home,
It's your chair.

Listen cat
How about
If I use it
When you're out?

So, what happens in this poem is that as the cat gets older, the cat's behavior changes. At first, it's a lovely, sweet kitten, and the cat's owner is in charge. The cat's owner is still the boss, and the cat's owner can say: "This is my chair", when the cat is a kitten; when it's still a baby.

Then, later, the power has changed between the cat's owner and the cat. Now, they share the chair; they sit together. The owner sits with the cat, and when the owner goes out, then the cat can sit in the chair by itself. This is when the cat has become a kitty.

And then, later, when the cat has become an adult, the power has completely changed and now the cat's owner can't sit in his own chair; he has to ask his cat: "Is it okay if I sit in that chair that you like so much?" when the cat has grown up.

So, I really liked that poem about cats, because I think that's one of the main things about their personalities. Unlike a dog that respects you as its master and will always look up to you, that's not guaranteed with a cat. And many cats, as they get older, become very powerful and more powerful even than their owners.

So let's look at some cat words now. We've got: "pussy" or "pussycat". The word "pussy" can be a rude word. If we want to say... We can still use it when we're talking about cats, but we have to say it in a sweet way: "pussy". And we can say: "Here, pussy, pussy, pussy" to a cat. It does sound a little bit funny, but you could still say it as kind of a joke or to be sweet.

Another cat word is "moggy". A moggy is a cat that... It's not a fancy cat, it's maybe not a very attractive cat; it's a mix of all the different street cats around, and not a beautiful champion cat, but one that you can still love very much.

Next we have a "tom" or a "tomcat". This is a male cat. And we have also "pedigree cat". "Pedigree" is a cat that has been bred to look a certain way; to look beautiful.

My cat, Mr Milo, was a pedigree cat. He was a Persian cat. He was very, very beautiful, but he wasn't very intelligent as a cat. And perhaps it's true that maybe moggies are more intelligent than... at least more intelligent than Persian cats because they haven't been so inbred to look beautiful.

Okay, now let's look at cat behavior. What does a cat do in its general, daily life? First of all, a cat loves to nap. You will often find a cat napping. For example, the cat may nap on a chair, it may nap on your bed. Cats might also do some hunting during the day. So, watch out if there's any wild birds in your garden, or any mice that might be in your garden or in your house because your cat will try to hunt that. Mr Milo was not very good at hunting. No, no, no. It was quite funny. He lived for 17 years, he never caught a bird. He only managed to catch a mouse that was already dying, so it couldn't really... It couldn't really run fast. And Mr Milo was so proud that he... He put his paw on this already half-dead mouse, but that... Mr Milo wasn't... He wasn't much of an aggressive cat. He was just, you know, he was good at looking beautiful, and that was all he did really.

Cats also like to groom. "Grooming" is when they lick their... Lick their fur to stay clean. Cats also like to purr. [Purrs] That's how Mr Milo would purr. It was often quite annoying, because he always wanted to do it right there next to your neck, so you would get the feeling of the claws coming out, and also wet-cat breath on your neck and in your ear. […]