What my Gran told me was that all cats can talk, but they will only talk if they have something worth saying and someone worth saying it to. YEARS later, I read almost the same thing in a Peter S. Beagle novel, and asked Dad about it. He said, "Your Gran did know a Beagle family at one time..." I've often wondered if he said that to her, or if she said it to him, when he was a boy.