Re: Ne T'enfuis pas

[maylover@usa.pipeline.com (Michael W. Gallaher)]

In regards to the masculine noun "le chat" in the song, this is proper
French usage.  All nouns have gender in a linguistic sense, but that
doesn't mean the noun has the same gender in the physical sense.  As an
example, the French word for 'teacher' (le professor) is masculine, and
would be used even if the particular teacher is herself a woman. 
Similarly, Kate uses "un chat" properly, since she is metaphorically using
the characteristers of a cat, or "le chat."  You'd use "la chatte" only to
distinguish a female cat in particular, as in "Henry is <le chat> (boy cat)
and Mary is <le chatte> (the girl cat)."  Had Kate used "une chatte,"  the
line would translate "I come like a female cat," and that's not relevant to
what she's conveying here, right?