Shanties and other songs of the sea

Oriphiel · 12-01-2014, 06:50 AM

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 :-

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.

Lisnaholic · 12-02-2014, 06:44 AM

This thread is becoming more interesting with each post, Lord Larehip. I had no idea you were in the navy for six years, and really didn´t expect you to have a fouled anchor tattoo! I had you down as a dry and cynical academic! So that surprising revelation, all the seafaring lore and the wonderful old photos are fascinating. When I have more time, I´m going to go back and do justice to all the music clips you´ve posted. Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oriphiel

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.

Thanks to you too, Oriphiel and welcome to MB.
In England, at any rate, we say "let the cat out of the bag" which also suggests a live animal doesn´t it? If it was a whip, "take" would be the natural choice of verb, I´d have thought.