[chris_st]

In american english, calling someone "catty" means they gossip maliciously.

Also, "cathouse" is another name for whorehouse.

[auganov]

Yea, but that's a variation on cat. Not a standalone "cat', while a standalone "dog" has enough of a negative connotation in most languages.

[bluejekyll]

Seriously? you won't accept derivatives that disagree with your statement.

Also, see the response about the spanish usage of 'gata'

edit: this is much too serious of a response to this funny of a thread, I should throw some humor in here somewhere ;)

[auganov]

Of course not (which I indicated fairly clearly too). To make a fair comparison you want to consider what kind of a feeling or connotation "You're a dog" vs "You're a cat" invokes. Variations on the sentence are okay too, like, say "You're such a dog" or "Come here dog". I didn't contest 'gata', gender specificity does make it non-ideal, but I'll take it.

[Cogito]

"You're such a pussy" or "Don't be a pussy" can definitely be used in a derogatory fashion, especially in groups in which social status is dominated by masculinity.

It can mean, for example, variations on "Don't be so timid", "Stop expressing your fears", and "Take more risks".

Indeed, I have heard "Don't be a bitch" be used in almost the exact same way.

[err4nt]

Let me introduce you to the word “pusillanimous”. It means showing a lack of courage or determination, or being timid.

So when you call somebody a 'pussy' for not having the courage to do something that has _nothing_ to do with felines or vaginas. (As most people commonly seem to think). Being a 'pussy' is short for 'pusillanimous', nothing to do with cats at all…

[saghm]

By "gender specificity", do you mean the word itself, or the people targeted by the insult? Using the word "gato" to describe a woman would be nonsensical, and I don't think that a word predominantly being used to insult only one gender (such as "bastard") makes it any less of an insult.

[auganov]

Just the fact that it's conjugated. And the female gendering of a word often having a diminutive effect in languages too. All in all it does seem fair (and suprising to me) given how similar the female form is, google says French has the same thing too. But yea, ideally you'd want the standard form being negative. Or both the male and female being negative.

As a side note - I've particularly become interested in the negativity of "dog" after trying to trace the origin of the proverb "The Dogs Bark but the Caravan Moves On", which is pretty common in my language (not common in English). Was surprised to find out it originated in Arabic and found it's way to many other languages.