No I haven't gone back into Alice-country again; and no, paws actually don't have anything to do with anything at all I'm wittering on about. In fact neither of the two nouns in that sentences have ever played a vital role in my life. And that's pretty much a common experience: there are some things in life we are only familiar with at second-hand, because they are characteristics associated with other species. From White rabbits to seals the common factor is not the apparatus which enables locomotion. It's whiskers. The very first entry on a basic on-line search for the word "whiskers" brings up the information: "one of several long stiff hairs that grow near the mouth of some animals." The example sentence follows: "The cat licked its whiskers. " Now I'm not one to credit conspiracy theories; I spent years as an investigative journalist. But, this thing about the whiskers? It just seems so fishy to me. I think it's cheap so