Talk:Curiosity killed the cat

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Untitled[edit]

The two newspaper articles mentioned in the article are available on the WWW. I didn't include direct external links for them as they had to be found through a search.

The Lima News: http://elite.newspaperarchive.com
The Washington Post: http://proquest.umi.com

User:Sfresearcher


There should probably be a link made here to the page for the band Curiosity Killed the Cat. --Madbehemoth 18:37, 14 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Question[edit]

Is there a continue to it because I've heard that it is: Curiosity killed the cat, and _____ returned it back. But I couldn't remember the word. Ahmedbma 08:14, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

According to this query, there's no such usage. -- Szvest 14:49, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Satisfaction brought it back,

also, i have heard a different definition, Basically, "Curiosity killed the cat: i was Curious, sorry you cat died though." 70.228.58.135 21:18, 31 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]


I have also heard that "Satisfaction brought it back", which makes sense within the context of a nine-lived feline. yarn.wench 24.63.55.153 05:15, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Wasn't there a film where the wife tried to electrocute her husband in the bath and the cops come to investigate and the cop is about to find out the Truth and then the wet cat sneaks into the fusebox outside (in the pouring rain), and the power goes out. Cop (crime inspector) sees the charred cat and says "Curisosity killed the cat". And the wife can live on with her young lover (Jack Nicholson?)  ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.218.210.177 (talk) 19:54, 11 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Schrödinger's cat[edit]

I always assumed there was some link between this phrase and the famous Schrödinger's cat experiment, i.e. the cat could be presumed to be both dead and alive while the box remained closed, but as soon as curiosity got the better of you and you looked inside, it became dead. However, if this phrase was first used in 1916 then they can't be related... Unless Schrödinger got his idea from the phrase? Does anyone know? Cheers — SteveRwanda 17:52, 3 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

(It doesn't become dead -- it becomes either dead or alive probabilitistically) I'm pretty skeptical this is in any way related. 82.16.16.210 (talk) 10:45, 10 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, that's not it. It becomes a superposition of dead AND alive, both at the same time. It's a thought experiment. Schrodinger was pissed off with the idea in quantum theory that a particle can be in 2 contradictory states at once. Which is true. So he scaled the experiment up to a whole catful of particles, in a live / dead superposition. It's meant to prove that quantum theory is nonsense. Which is somewhat true. Quantum theory is true. But it doesn't make a lot of sense.
As far as the phrase, of course it's much older than Schrodinger, or his poor cat. They can't even bury the poor thing. 188.29.165.28 (talk) 15:47, 21 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Per the Schrödinger's Cat article, "A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat)..." therefore the cat's innate curiosity is not a factor, and therefore not connected with this saying. Lanthano (talk) 21:44, 17 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, in Schrödinger's thought experiment the Observer's curiosity kills the cat. By looking in the box he collapses the superposition of states which (half the time) indeed kills the cat. 24.82.139.224 (talk) 17:13, 19 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I vote that Schrödinger's cat thought experiment should be mentioned in the article, and that it is related. Ai.unit (talk) 23:10, 19 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Not how it works. InedibleHulk (talk) 05:20, 30 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Dorothy Parker[edit]

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. Curiosity killed the cat" I think this should be intergrated into the article, it defines the context so well; and documentation can be found here http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/457.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.131.206.20 (talk) 13:49, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Original meaning[edit]

Is it certain that the meaning of "Care" in the original version "care killed the cat" is indeed "Curiosity"? From the quotes giiven, it could as well be "worry", namely "the cat died from worrying too much about something". Or it could be "care" in the modern sense, namely "the cat died because the owner was interfering too much on its life" . (As a kid, I myself killed many aquarium fishes for too much care..) JorgeStolfi --187.106.62.53 (talk) 16:19, 13 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Or too much cat?
188.29.165.28 (talk) 15:48, 21 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]