Thomas “Tom” Jasper Cat, commonly referred to as Tom Cat, or more simply referred to as Tom, and originally known as Jasper, is one of the two anti-heroic protagonists in Tom and Jerry, alongside Jerry Mouse, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Despite being referred as an anti-heroic, Tom is more often placed in the role of the antagonist, with Jerry often being the protagonist just as much.
Tom is a bluish-grey and white anthropomorphic domestic short haired tuxedo British cat who first appeared in the 1940 MGM animated short Puss Gets the Boot. The cat was known as Jasper during his debut in the short; however, beginning with his next appearance in The Midnight Snack he was known as Tom or Thomas.
Tom and Jerry cartoons
His name, “Tom Cat”, is based on “tomcat”, a word which refers to male cats. He is usually mute and rarely heard speaking with the exception of a few cartoons (such as 1943’s The Lonesome Mouse, 1944’s The Zoot Cat, 1947’s Part Time Pal, 1953’s Puppy Tale and 1992’s Tom and Jerry: The Movie). His only notable vocal sounds outside of this are his various screams whenever he is subjected to panic or, more frequently, pain. He is continuously after Jerry Mouse, for whom he sets traps, many of which backfire and cause damage to him rather than Jerry. His trademark scream was provided by creator William Hanna. Hanna’s recordings of Tom screaming were later used as a stock sound effect for other MGM cartoon characters, including a majority of Tex Avery’s shorts.
Tom is usually defeated in the end (or very rarely, killed, like in Mouse Trouble, where he explodes), although there are some stories where he outwits and defeats Jerry. Besides Jerry, he also has trouble with other mouse or cat characters. One of them that appears frequently is Spike Bulldog. Spike regularly appears and usually assists Jerry and beats up Tom. Though in some occasions Tom beats him or he turns on Jerry (like his debut appearance in Dog Trouble). Usually when Tom is chasing Jerry after a bit Jerry turns the tables on Tom and beats him or uses an outside character such as Spike to beat Tom.
Tom has variously been portrayed as a house cat doing his job, and a victim of Jerry’s blackmail attempts, sometimes within the same short. He is almost always called by his full name “Thomas” by Mammy Two Shoes. In 1961 short Switchin’ Kitten Tom has a membership card as belong to the “International Brotherhood of Cats”.
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neurotypical socializing as I understand it
"If you want to be friends, I must see you standing in front of me on three separate occasions. We cannot speak until the third occasion, and you may only mention the weather or something we can both see in our immediate surroundings. If you say too much, the offer will expire. I will smile confusedly and that will be your sign that the offer has expired. Say the perfect amount of words, and I will smile casually, signaling that we are moving towards friendship. We are not yet friends. If you want to be friends…
Have you heared the term meowing? For the average neurotypical conversation what is said does not matter at all. It is all about the tone being used and the noises. There is a socially agreed upon metric relating to what kind of noises you should make, and for how long, etc. You just pick the conversation tree you want and you play the game with them going back and forth.
In a way neurotypical conversation is far more neurodivergnet than neurodivergent conversation. This is why things so often end in violence for them. If there is a conversation mismatch eventually you cna only escalate. That is why they get anxious when anyone breaks a pattern. It is in a roundabout way a threat if you don’t perform the rituals with them.
It must be frightening to feel in so little controll over the world you create elaborate rituals to process it.
oh my god, is this why the NTs always ask “how’s your day been?” or “how are you?” and have no actual interest in hearing about how you’ve been? i hate it
Yep, the conversation would be functionally identical if they said meow meow and you said meow meow. So long as it was in the correct tone and cadence and tone. Did you friendly meow? Comrade meow? Friendly meow with a hint of romantic undertone so they can respond with a romantic meow if they are intrested?