I've seen "fat cats" used in several contexts since realizing it was in the ransom note, and now I've
just seen it again. John Le Carré uses it in The Constant Gardener (2001) hardback p24:
"Nine months back. Bear-leading a party of fat cats in the aid game.World food, world health,
world expense accounts. Bastards spent a mountain of money, wanted receipts for twice the
amount..."

Le Carré is the pseudonym for famous English author John Cornwall (b. 1931) of worldwide reputation
for The Spy Who Came In from the Cold and other books that predate the 1996 murder of JonBenét.

Maybe the note writer is a Le Carré fan or maybe it's an indication the writer is English?

Table of Contents

James Carville used the term, Maikai, 11:54 PM, May-19-02
That may, Joyce, 03:09 AM, May-20-02
John The Square, DonBradley, 05:31 AM, May-20-02
MrPigeon, LovelyPigeon, 05:27 PM, May-20-02
interesting, mommyof2, 02:38 PM, May-21-02
He was, LovelyPigeon, 03:07 PM, May-21-02
Foreign to the truth, DonBradley, 05:50 PM, May-21-02
Fat Cat is common, Lilac, 11:34 PM, May-21-02
Did Mr. Paugh really, Maikai, 00:34 AM, May-22-02
The whole note , Joyce, 00:55 AM, May-22-02

Messages in this discussion

1 . "James Carville used the term"
Posted by Maikai on May-19-02 at 11:54 PM (EST)
in a letter referring to Republicans when trying to drum up donations for the Democratic party.

2 . "That may"
Posted by Joyce on May-20-02 at 03:09 AM (EST)
be a reason that some who've looked at the note thought it was written by an older person rather
than a younger person, and an older person who was 'well read' as the saying goes. I know someone
now who is 'well read' and is always correcting my mis-pronounciations of forign words. "No Joy, it's
not Ren-ore, it's Ren-wa".
And after I'd mentioned something once, my uncle who was a farmer asked me "how virturous was
that virturous china?" The correct pronounciation is "vit-re-ous". Guess my 'down home' accent was
just a little TOO down home back then.
That's okay I guess. My mother told me when she was young, her and her sisters pronounced a book
as "Don Quik-oats".

3 . "John The Square"
Posted by DonBradley on May-20-02 at 05:31 AM (EST)
>Maybe the note writer is a Le Carré fan or maybe it's an
>indication the writer is English?

International best seller. Sold very well in the United States.

Someone who knew all those lines from crime films might well be interested in crime novels too.

4 . "MrPigeon"
Posted by LovelyPigeon on May-20-02 at 05:27 PM (EST)
said the other day, when we were dining at Burger King, that he read there may be another baseball
strike after August. He was disgusted about that, and said it's all about "fat cats" and money instead
of the game of baseball.

I reached across our table for two, grabbed his by the collar and demanded where he had heard such
language! He said he used to read "fat cats" in Justice League comic books. I let him go, smoothing
out his collar as I did.

So maybe an English person over 50 who read Justice League comics?

5 . "interesting"
Posted by mommyof2 on May-21-02 at 02:38 PM (EST)
and just where was Mr. Pigeon the night of December 26th? ;)

6 . "He was"
Posted by LovelyPigeon on May-21-02 at 03:07 PM (EST)
in Paducah, KY

I think the note does read like someone of not-American education and upbringing may have written
it.

Of course, the writer claims to be part of a "foreign faction" so it could just be that the writer tried
to use a style of writing and language that would support the "foreign" claim.

7 . "Foreign to the truth"
Posted by DonBradley on May-21-02 at 05:50 PM (EST)
>the writer tried to use a style of writing and language that
>would support the "foreign" claim.

Ain't no 'faction', so it could well be that there ain't no truth to the 'foreign' claim either.

Anyone so careful with the actual penmanship of the note would be careful to avoid any subtle points
that he did not want to be in the note.

8 . "Fat Cat is common"
Posted by Lilac on May-21-02 at 11:34 PM (EST)
I'm "only" 39, but I've heard that term my entire life, off and on. Just like "Big Cheese"

9 . "Did Mr. Paugh really"
Posted by Maikai on May-22-02 at 00:34 AM (EST)
use that term? I agree with LP about the writer not being a natural citizen----that the note sounded
a bit too proper. The writer could have been "foreign"--from a country where kidnapping is
common.....where they hate fatcat capitalists. Plenty of foreign students at the University. I hope
they checked those that may not have come back to school in January....and don't forget that dollar
sign in the note...that looks like a pound sign was originally written.....a pound sign is used in some of
the middle eastern countries as well as England.

10 . "The whole note "
Posted by Joyce on May-22-02 at 00:55 AM (EST)
LAST EDITED ON May-22-02 AT 00:58 AM (EST)

was meant to mislead, and I believe it was left on the stairway to give the perp time to get out of
the house if anyone found JBR missing before he was gone. In other words, it said a bunch of stuff
about having taken their daughter, as in out of the house and it was just long enough to keep
someone detained awhile while they read it. I don't really think that someone sat and 'cyphered' out
all of those movie phrases since I have known people who could quote them seemingly rapid fire and
probably hold a conversation with you using ONLY movie phrases or famous quotes if the need arose.
So I think both the length of the note and the statement that she had been kidnapped were there to
give the perp time to get out of the house if she was found missing. You note the perp left it on the
spiral stairway and not the other staircase. I have wondered why except perhaps it's because if they
found her missing they might first think that she went downstairs by the NEAREST stairway and that
was the nearest one to her room.
However, I don't think it was written by anyone forign. I know, some say it was planned over a long
period of time and while it could've been and I've wondered about that myself, somehow I think it
wasn't.

http://www.cardhouse.com/heath/2002_03_17_archive.html#75023152

Do a search for "cats."