Curious
Adj.
Eager to know or learn something.
‘I began to be curious about the whereabout of the bride and groom’
‘She was curious to know what happened’
Expressing curiosity.
‘A curious state’
Strange; unusual.
‘A curious sensation overwhelmed her.’
Euphemistic (of books) erotic or pornographic
Origin
Middle English: from Old French curios, from Latin curiosus ‘careful’, from cura ‘care’.
A kitten enters, fixated on a shiny, shiny toy. She’s not yet an adolescent cat, but she is old enough to be barely cute. She devotes herself only to that shiny, shiny toy, until—
...Feral!
That’s it! The other day someone called me that! I don’t know what it meant so I just said, “Thank you!” What does it mean? I just started learning your language a couple months ago, so this is all new to me. You guys have names for everything! You love naming things! So you can call? them?
My humans named me! They named me… Aw, nip. I forget. Haven’t used it in months...
The kitten rediscovers her toy, and immediately and rightfully forgets the audience for play. Until—
...Feral!
That’s it! The other day someone called me that! I don’t know what it meant so I just said, “Thank you!” What does it mean? I just started learning your language a couple months ago, so this is all new to me. You guys have names for everything! You love naming things! So you can call? them?
My humans named me! They named me… Aw, nip. I forget. Haven’t used it in months...
But you guys know me! I’m that cat. The one that “curiosity killed” which I don’t get because I thought killed meant dead but I’m not dead but I am curious… but like I said, I’m just learning your language now, so I need to do more research.
Oh, you might have also heard of me as “Scaredy.” But maybe don’t call me this either for now until I figure it out because this one confuses me even more. Think about it, if you had nine lives and you always landed on your feet, would you be scaredy? Uh, no! I’ll learn ALL this one day…
But, yeah. That’s me.
Having said all she had to say and also having limited attention more generally, the kitten shifts back to her toy. Until—
...Feral!
That’s it! The other day someone called me that! I don’t know what it meant so I just said, “Thank you!” What does it mean? I just started learning your language a couple months ago, so this is all new to me. You guys have names for everything! You love naming things! So you can call? them?
My humans named me! They named me… Aw, nip. I forget. Haven’t used it in months...
Feral! Maybe that’s my name?! No… Cause I didn’t hear that until the other day on the streets…
A semi-relevant thought occurs to our kitten. Back when I lived with my humans, I had this one friend who lived across the street and we had this thing where every morning we would look at each other through our windows and one day she started eating plastic. So maybe feral means doesn’t eat plastic?