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Thirdly, if you ''did'' want to squeeze “word for a big, fast, African cat” into two syllables, instead of butchering “[[leopardess]]”, wouldn’t you just use “''leopard''”? Are lady cats more given to “rising” than gentlemen cats? The [[JC]] has limited experience of this sort of thing, but we doubt it. | Thirdly, if you ''did'' want to squeeze “word for a big, fast, African cat” into two syllables, instead of butchering “[[leopardess]]”, wouldn’t you just use “''leopard''”? Are lady cats more given to “rising” than gentlemen cats? The [[JC]] has limited experience of this sort of thing, but we doubt it. | ||
My correspondent continues undeterred: | |||
{{Quote|A female leopard is known as a leopress IN Africa, where they live mostly. A leopress would surely, most definitely rise above the serengeti, because they sleep in trees.}} | |||
Now this is a nice try, but I think not. Now he is no wizard in African linguistics — but nor is Mr. Paich — but the [[JC]] can’t find any evidence that “leopress” is a special African term for a female leopard. It seems fanciful. Most people in that part of the world speak Swahili, and in that language leopardess, we gather, is “chui”. In a sense it is a pity Mr Paich didn’t use it: it would scan a lot better. But still the point remains: a sleepy she-leopard, slinking up a tree for a nap may be “elevated”, but is this the sort of magnificent “rise” one might compare with a distant twenty-thousand-foot mountain? We say no. | |||