Quote:
Originally Posted by Lisnaholic
Lord Larehip must spend a lot of time compiling a thread like this, and I found this section of it particularly interesting:-
At last various expressions like swinging a cat makes some sense, though I would dispute the one about the cat out of the bag, which I have always taken to mean "the secret has escaped and cannot be returned to concealment," the same way you can´t easily re-bag a panicking animal.
^ HaHa! I don´t see why not, Ki - that´s what I´m doing anyway, for lack of anything more erudite to contribute :-
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Yeah, I hear you. When "the cats out of the bag", it means it's too late for any other course of action. One the captain takes out his cat o' nine tails, it's too late to apologize or make excuses, someone's gonna get thwacked. And I also have mostly heard the phrase in reference to a secret becoming known.