Authors like cats because they are such quiet, loveable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reason. (Robertson Davies)
I begin with a disclaimer- I am not an Ailurophile. In simple words, I’m not a cat lover. However, I’ve always been fascinated by the feline family. We Indians are quite sceptical of the species despite the fact that they are a highly precocious one. A cat crossing your way is still considered a bad omen though I always wonder who could lay such baseless charges against a delicate and majestic creature. It happens to be so that we Indians are not the only one biased against the community, the medieval Europeans, too, fall under the category. They considered cats not only wicked but evil. Mercifully, the ancient Egyptians harboured unconditional love for the said animal.
The word ‘ailurophile’ owes its origin to the Greek language and is a combination of ‘ailuros’ meaning cat and ‘phile’ meaning lover. Being a language teacher, my adoration for the ‘purring’ being has an altogether different genesis. Some research and a little bit of ‘googling’ revealed that the lingua franca contains over 50 idioms and phrases associated with the cats.
We are, of course, familiar with the common ones like- cat’s whiskers, fighting like cats and dogs, cat killed the curiosity, grin like a Cheshire cat, a cat nap, like a cat on a hot tin roof, play cat and mouse, to bell a cat, to rain cats and dogs, there are more than one way to skin a cat, cat’s pajamas, no room to swing a cat, while the cat’s away the mice will play, etc. What made me choose to write about cats is, in fact, the interesting yet heart wrenching origin of the phrase- to let the cat out of the bag!
The idiom, as it turns out, is closely associated with an instrument of severe corporal punishment called ‘cat-o-nine tails’, also known as ‘cat’. The instrument is a long handled whip that ends in nine tails which are knotted throughout their length and called knotted thongs. It was extensively used by the Royal Navy and British Army to flog the slaves who disobeyed, misbehaved or tried to escape.
The design of the instrument can be traced back to the Egyptians who worshipped cats and considered them sacred. They believed in the myth that a cat has nine lives. So they carved whips out of a cat’s hide and flogged themselves to purify their souls. Later the whip was modified and nine tails with knots were added so that the lashes gave an impression as if a cat’s paw had scratched the back.
However, the Royal Navy adopted the ‘cat’ to torture its slaves. The slaves were brought out on the deck by orders of the Captain and publicly flogged. The crew was also called out to the deck to witness the ‘formal flogging’ which was carried out by using a cat that weighed 370 grams and kept in a red baize bag. The cat was brought out of that bag and the tails that would be stuck together were combed and separated before using the whip. One of the people, assigned to whip the guilty, would then swing the cat over his head and deliver the stroke. This led to the genesis of the phrase- no room to swing a cat.
So, if the cat was let out of the bag, it would not go in without a good whipping. Also, it is said that after the lashing, the officers would crack jokes and say to the one whipped, “So, now. The cat’s got your tongue!”
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