Despite what you may have believed, international sensation Hello Kitty is not actually a cat. In related news, the sky is not blue and grass is not green, no matter what you think. Everything you ever believed is a lie (except this article, of course).
If Hello Kitty isn't, well, a kitty, then what is she? A young girl, according to Hello Kitty owner Sanrio. The shocking revelation comes from Christine R. Yano who, in an interview with the L.A. Times, says she discovered the news the hard way.
Yano is an anthropologist from the University of Hawaii who is curating the upcoming Hello Kitty retrospective exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum in October. While working on writing text that will accompany the exhibit, Sanrio corrected her after she described Hello Kitty as a cat.
"I was corrected - very firmly," Yano says in the interview. "That's one correction Sanrio made for my script for the show. Hello Kitty is not a cat. She's a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She's never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and it's called Charmmy Kitty."
Yes, you read that correctly: Hello Kitty is not a cat, but she does own one. Hello Kitty girl has a surprisingly deep backstory for a cartoon character that has adorned nearly every product imaginable, from motor oil to men's underwear. Hello Kitty's real name is actually "Kitty White," she is British, and she is the daughter of George and Mary White. Kitty White is perpetually trapped in the third grade, despite the character turning 40-years-old this year, and she lives outside London. In case you were wondering, she's also a Scorpio. Oh yeah, and she has a cat, named Charmmy Kitty. That seemed worth repeating.
Hello Kitty may not have a mouth (a strange feature for a girl, as are whiskers) but that doesn't stop her from emoting to the world. The character's blank expression is part of what makes her so successful.
"Hello Kitty works and is successful partly because of the blankness of her design," Yano says. "People see the possibility of a range of expressions. You can give her a guitar, you can put her on stage, you can portray her as is. That blankness gives her an appeal to so many types of people."
From musician to movie star, Hello Kitty is everywhere and everything. Except a cat.
Photo: Suedehead
