LEIGH Griffiths admits he is purring at the prospect of being back among the cream of Europe – and it’s no wonder Peter Lawwell is still grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Related idioms are grins like a Cheshire cat, grinned like a Cheshire cat, grinning liked a Cheshire cat, smile like a Cheshire cat, smiles like a Cheshire cat, smiled like a Cheshire cat, smiling like a Cheshire cat. Note that the word Cheshire is capitalized in the term grin like a Cheshire cat, as it is a proper place name. How cheese sellers induced their customers to cooperate in their method of cheese-eating is unrecorded. The cheese was eaten from tail to head, leaving the cat’s smile as the last part of the cheese to be consumed. The most intriguing story may be that at one time a cheese was manufactured in Cheshire county that was shaped like a cat. There are various stories about painted signs depicting poorly-drawn lions in Cheshire county in the early 1800s. Cheshire is a county in England that is known for its milk and cheese products, surely a reason for Cheshire cats to smile. The term grin like a Cheshire cat predates the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by at least seventy-five years, if not longer. In the story, the Cheshire cat is somewhat inscrutable, and it disappears leaving only its unnerving smile. These connotations are due to the appearance of the Cheshire cat in the children’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Another connotation may be a slight malevolence. The idiom grin like a Cheshire cat may have the connotation that the person who is grinning is in possession of knowledge that the beholder is not aware of. Some definitions of the term stipulate that the smile must be so broad as to expose the gums. To grin like a Cheshire cat means to smile broadly. We’ll look at the meaning of this term, its probable origins, and some examples of the phrase’s use in a few sentences. However, Carroll did not invent the term grin like a Cheshire cat. Interest in her and her history is perhaps as great now as when she was the foremost advertiser of rail passenger service.The idiom grin like a Cheshire cat was popularized by the children’s story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, published in 1865.

Today, Chessie no longer appears in timetables or on locomotives and rail cars, but she nevertheless is alive in the hearts of millions who grew up during her life’s work on the C&O and successor lines. Chessie lead the way as “America’s Sleep Warden” and gave up her Pullman berth for traveling soldiers.Īfter the war, she returned to her passenger promotional work for the railway that had itself become widely known as “Chessie.” After the takeover of passenger service by Amtrak in 1971, Chessie took on a new role, giving her name to the combined C&O, Baltimore & Ohio, and Western Maryland railways under Chessie System, and helped them sell their freight service. In an era less complicated than our own, Chessie became the darling of millions, helped bolster the spirit of the depression-ravaged people, and then seeing them through the great conflict of World War II. Soon Chessie, “America’s Sleepheart,” was the talk of the railroad world, and propelled C&O to the top ranks of rail advertising. She got two look-alike kittens in 1935, and a mate, “Peake” (from the railroad name as well – Chesapeake = “Chessie-Peake”), in 1937. Advertisements featuring Chessie appeared in most national magazines as well. In 1934, the first “Chessie” calendar was produced, with 40,000 copies distributed. The C&O’s advertising agency built a whole campaign around the kitten and chose the name “Chessie” from the railroad’s name. It was purchased for $5 for the railway’s use.

The original color etching from which the advertisement was taken is by Guido Grünewald, a Viennese artist who specialized in cats and other animals. Printed in black and white, the ad carried no reference to the name of the kitten. At the time, he was developing an ad campaign to popularize C&O’s new air-conditioned sleeping car service, and hit upon the notion of using the kitten with the slogan “Sleep Like a Kitten and Arrive Fresh as a Daisy in Air-Conditioned Comfort” for the C&O passenger ads.Ĭhessie’s first appearance on behalf of C&O was in the September, 1933 issue of Fortune magazine, in an ad that carried “Sleep Like a Kitten” as its slogan. Probert, a C&O official charged with public relations and advertising, saw an etching in a newspaper of a cuddly little kitten sleeping under a blanket with a paw thrust contentedly forward. Chessie is probably the most endearing and certainly one of the most successful corporate symbols in American history.

Definition of chessy cat