Pussy: A Natural Beverage

There are times when I really do become speechless. This is one of them. I note that the official company Web site states that Pussy is a natural high-energy beverage made with 100 natural ingredients. The ingredients include white grape juice (from southern Italy, no less!), Mexican limes, lightly carbonated water flavored with Grenadilla and Lychee, and then "Infused with six selected botanical herbs," namely Milk Thistle, Guarana, Siberian Ginseng, Sarsaparilla, Schizandra (apparently a Chinese herb believed to aid memory and ward off depression, and protect the liver) and Ginkgo Biloba.

They seem absolutely sincere, and the product is genuine. Apparently Pussy is the British brain child of Jonnie Shearer, who at 21 created the product, and launched it in London in June of 2004. The marketing and branding are a bit whack, to my way of thinking, but they assert that "The name Pussy shocks and demands attention—that's the point." The copy is surprisingly bland, though there is a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor, so's to speak. It has, moreover, already been turned into a demotivational poster, which, I suppose, is a mark of . . . something. For the etymologically curious, I note that accord to the OED, pussy was first used colloquially to refer to a young girl or woman "exhibiting characteristics associated with a cat, esp. sweetness or amiability," but that by 1699 it was a reference to the vulva.