> 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.
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