Meaning:
An awkwardly small, confined space.
Background:
Whether the `cat' was a real moggy or the flail-like whip used to punish
sailors in the British Navy isn't clear. Many reports claim that the cat in
question is the `cat o'nine tails'. As so often though, they don't supply
evidence, just certainty. As a candidate for folk etymology goes the `cat o'
nine tails' story has it all - plausibility, a strong storyline and a
nautical origin. That's enough to convince many people - the actual evidence
shows the theory to be highly dubious. The phrase itself dates from at least
the 17th century. Richard Kephale's Medela Pestilentiae, 1665:
"They had not space enough (according to the vulgar saying) to swing a Cat in."
The nature of that citation makes it clear that the phrase was already in use
prior to it being committed to paper. The `cat o' nine tails' isn't recorded
until 1695 though, in William Congreve's Love for Love:
"If you should give such language at sea, you'd have a cat-o'-nine-tails
laid cross your shoulders."
If those dates are in fact the earliest uses then the `cat o' nine tails'
theory is wrong. The task for anyone who wants to claim that theory correct
is to pre-date those citations.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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A former instructor, professor Brenda King, was kind to my boy and me when we
started BJJ in the Redwood City gym where she worked. A lifelong martial artist,
she trained in kickboxing, Jeet Kung Do, and Kali, took up BJJ late in life, and
earned her blackbelt at 60. She had a hip replaced early 2024 and started
teaching in her garage, a neat dojo albeit with hardly enough room to swing a
cat. Many of my BJJ buddies nearby went and her home gym thrived.
Thursday morning, I logged on Facebook after one year of non-using and messaged
her asking if we could come to train with her as the boy's leaving for college
in a month. She shot back saying she's opening a gym in Belmont and would soon
announce the class schedule. 66 years old and wouldn't quit. What an inspiration!
