Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Alternating names

While it's a good idea to vary your descriptions occasionally for variety, in this instance, Siamese is not just a way to refer to the cat, but a way to differentiate this cat from other cats. If...

posted 9y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:28Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/16252
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T04:03:27Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/16252
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T04:03:27Z (almost 5 years ago)
While it's a good idea to vary your descriptions occasionally for variety, in this instance, _Siamese_ is not just a way to refer to _the cat,_ but a way to differentiate this cat from _other_ cats.

If the scene were in someone's living room, then _Siamese_ would help you identify that cat as opposed to the tabby, tuxedo, and tortie cats also lying on the couch.

Here, you're pretty much talking about one cat, so I would treat "cat" more like "plumber" or "lawyer" in Roger's excellent answer, and use the cat's name as the variable instead.

The only place I would use it in your example is here:

> "So," I said, stroking **Sheba's** paw, "did you guys find out the problem?"

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2015-02-17T15:37:00Z (over 9 years ago)
Original score: 2