Kitty corner, diagonally opposite
First Question: What is kitty corner?
Googling I got to: "situated diagonally opposite to someone or something". Ah, okay then what is meant by diagonally opposite? Perhaps the most far away corner in a square, if you are yourself in a corner of that square too? Please confirm.
Here is the sentence from a US-English novel:
Tolland pointed kitty corner across the dome to a far wall where a press area was being set up.
Second Question: Is this perhaps American colloquial speech? I never heard of it, and I have got most of my English from the BBC, British drama and school where they taught me explicitly British English. Would anyone in the UK understand this.?
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คำตอบ · 9
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Yes, your thinking with the square is correct. One corner which is opposite another corner.
However as you said, you've never heard it in British English. I also speak British English as I am from New Zealand (and England), and I have never ever said this or heard this said by anyone in those countries. I only knew is existed because I teach American English in the schools I work in.
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Thank you! :-)
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Self-correction: I should have credited Merlyn with mentioning the "catty corner" variation.
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I just wanted to let you know that "kitty corner" is a regional expression in the United States and not used universally in that form.
"Kitty-corner" is commonly heard in the Upper Midwest (Chicago and points north) and New England areas, but farther south in the United States -- such as Indianapolis, where I'm from -- you will more often hear "catty-cornered" or "catty-corner" (as mentioned by Alice).
So if you travel south of Chicago and say, "Kitty corner," you may get some puzzled looks!
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