http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_Blackman

I was thinking that “puss” is the kind of sound that cats seem to like. Trying to re-frame this into an ideal version for a cat’s ears, I thought “Pussus”… in Frankie Howard’s voice. This, I realised immediately, came from an episode of “Up Pompeii” satirising the James Bond films.

Now, I don’t have the affection for James Bond that feel for “Up Pompeii”. (No, missus!) I was once induced to see a James Bond film at the cinema, which I didn’t greatly enjoy, and have frequently seen snatches of James Bond films on television. They tend to make me think: “Why is he hitting those men?” And “Why doesn’t he try offering them unconditional positive regard?” The latter thought may stem from the fact that the one I saw at the cinema starred Rogerian Moore.

Anyway, The Prologue… No, dammit, not the prologue. Frankie Howard’s “Pussus” stemmed from a James Bond woman’s name: Pussy Galore. Crumbs! There can’t be much to say about that on this site, but…

Well, I think that Pussy Galore was played by Honor Blackman, who is an interesting actress. Although she speaks nicely, she was born in Plaistow (London E13), an area I used to know very well. It’s fair to say that E13 is not London’s most sought-after post code.

In “The Avengers”, she played television’s first female action hero. Unlike subsequent “Avengers” protagonists, Honor Blackman took the trouble to learn jujitsu. (And, in the mid 1960s, she wrote a book on self defence for women.) On screen, she floored her opponents with genuine jujitsu throws. Once, throwing an actor on to a concrete floor, she knocked him out for real.

Honor Blackman was not what is often called a “pussy cat”. (Meaning “softy”, although real pussy cats are feisty creatures, equipped with serviceable sets of claws… more akin to Ms Blackman in fighting mode.)

I use “puss” as a noun, though — but (I think) only when addressing a cat. (As in “come on, puss”.) When I want to call my cat, I do so with “puss (slight pause) puss-puss-puss”. Should my cat ever stray, perhaps I’d have to post lost cat notices saying: “answers to puss-puss-puss”.

I also sometimes use the variations “pusk” or “puska”.

But “Pussy Whipped” is also the title of a Bikini Kill album. I don’t doubt the feminist agenda of Bikini Kill, and of Kathleen Hanna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Hanna. I wonder what was going through their heads/her head when selecting the title.

I think I was trying to say that there may be a place for words, and usages of words, that we dislike.

I’ve given fights between girls a lot of thought over the last twenty-four hours, and wonder whether a (human) catfight is be so called (at least partially) because it may involve biting and scratching.

In my recollection of 1950s children’s playgrounds, fights between boys were pretty common, fights between girls were rare, and fights between girls and boys (as far as I knew) never took place at all. Fights between boys seemed to be governed by tacitly recognised rules, and were usually entirely conducted with fists. The much rarer fights between girls were more frightening, and seemed to recognise no rules at all. Girls bit one another, scratched, kicked, used open handed slaps and pulled one another’s hair. I wonder, now, whether boys’ evident reluctance to fight girls (in mixed sex playgrounds) stemmed from hesitation to take on the bundle of unrestrained fury a girl could become.

I suspect that most of those involved with Bad Rep are significantly younger than me, growing up when childhood had changed in many ways. I wonder whether fighting (for girls and/or boys) was amongst the things to change.