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Why do we put money in a "kitty"?

Question

We’ve just come from holiday with two other families and we all put our money in the kitty. So where does the word kitty come from, meaning putting money in the pot?
Jan, Enfield

Answer

** Definitive **
Name: Nigel, Richmond
Qualification: I’ve been around a bit!
Answer: If you don’t have a pot, you put money in the hat. And the rhyming slang for hat is kitty cat. So it became known as putting it in the kitty.