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> That's droll Rob. Are you transforming from a rodent into a whippet? > This could make you living proof of evolution. If I were considering such a thing, I think I'd prefer to be a whiffet rather than a whippet. The creature is mentioned (along with blowens, naturally) by THE NAPOLEON OF BURGLARS in the course of his conversations with the wholly estimable Rev. Tefft in the Virginia State Penitentiary in 1848. (See the quotation from _The Ladies' Repository_ below.) The Whiffet Formerly Known As Rodent WHIFFET 1. (Also whiffet dog.) A small dog. 1801 Olio (Philad.) 41 (Thornton) Who heeds the Whiffit's bark, when tempests howl? 1848 Ladies' Repository VIII. 315 The best protection to a house, with a family in it that can be named--that is, a little, barking, noisy, cowardly, whiffet dog. 1879 J. BURROUGHS Locusts & Wild Honey 30 The king-bird will worry the hawk as a whiffet dog will worry a bear.