To deter a cat from scratching your furniture, try putting lemon or orange scent on the area. Cats hate these smells and shouldn't want to hang around.
Cat language consists of three sound categories: murmurs, or purring to express their satisfaction, loud and soft meows for calling kittens or exclaim, and growls to express fear or pain.
In Medieval times, a criminal's punishment sometimes included having his tongue cut out, with the tongue fed to the king's pets....hence the phrase "cat got your tongue?"