Minty Breath Game: The Sign

When Her Royal Highness has had enough of the Minty Breath Game, she starts to "play the cello." This is The Sign that I am dismissed from the Royal Presence. If I blow minty breath on her after I've been given The Sign, she glares at me with a look on her face that says, "Why are you even still here?"

"Playing the cello" is one of the more delightful euphemisms I've heard for this particular cat activity. I originally read it in Diane DiMassa's subversive series of cult comics called Hothead Paisan, Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist but I don't know whether she is the originator of the phrase. Either way, it's a brilliant image, isn't it? And it has affected how I view a symphony orchestra, too.