Tybalt you ratcatcher will you walk?

Tybalt 's nickname is 'Prince of Cats', so he is firstly referring to this. However, Mercutio also insults Tybalt's name, because it sounds like 'Tibbles'. Tibbles is a popular name for a cat (a rat-catcher.)

He also calls him a cat in a derogatory term. Cat sounds remarkably like Cazzo in Italian. Romeo and Juliet is set in Italy. Cazzo means the male genitalia. its pronounced "CAT-so". <-(by adrienne) At the time Romeo And Juliet was written there was a popular story named ' reynard the fox' in which the cat was called 'Tibalt'. Mercutio uses this story to tease Tybalt with and continues to refer to Tybalt as a cat, therefore 'ratcatcher' <-(thesilenceRHIAN)