Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
    AH>  We speak of flour & sugar & meat because that's the   
    AH>  way we were taught. The Russians speak of countable   
    AH>  & uncountable nouns because that's the way *they*   
    AH>  were taught. And as classroom co-ordinator my job is   
    AH>  to put all this stuff together into a lesson plan. ;-)   
      
    ak>  Using logic and system is very useful.   
      
      
              Agreed.  And to me grammar is very logical... i.e. in my own native   
   language at least.  While I still find it difficult to get my mind around some   
   of the gender issues which arise in other languages I can play with grammar in   
   English as one might play with a matryoshka doll.  Beneath each layer there is   
   another layer of half-forgotten stuff, then another, and then another....  :-)   
      
      
      
    ak>  "The cat" is a class of animals.   
      
      
              On occasion, yes.  Here's a joke which uses this construction:   
      
                 The dog greets you enthusiastically at the door & covers   
                 you with sloppy kisses... the cat sends his butler.  :-)   
      
      
      
    ak>  "A cat" is one cat.   
      
      
              Uh-huh....  :-)   
      
      
      
    ak>  "Cat" is meat of a cat.   
      
      
              I'd say the meat of one or more cats, but AFAIC it's more important   
   that you now understand why the native speakers here kept saying "meat".  :-))   
      
      
      
    ak>  In other words "cat" can be both countable and   
    ak>  uncountable. ;-)   
      
      
              Bingo!  Give yourself a gold star....  :-)   
      
      
      
    ak>  Meat is uncountable like milk and is used without   
    ak>  any article.   
      
      
              Usually... but not always.  In our household you might also hear me   
   say (in my capacity as chief cook & bottle washer) "I'll get around to that as   
   soon as I've put away the meat & the milk I just brought home from the grocery   
   store."  Having worked in the restaurant business, I attach a high priority to   
   safe food handling... and I specify which meat & milk I'm referring to so that   
   other family members know I'm not neglecting them if they have to wait awhile.   
      
              Other examples of this construction may be found in "The House That   
   Jack Built"... i.e. a poem many native speakers of English will recognize from   
   what we schoolteacher types refer to as pattern books for young children.  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)