#cat-o'-nine-tails

[kaleidoru]

tell no tales

[uspiria]

The Cat O’ Nine Tails (1971) dir. Dario Argento

[ltwilliammowett]

Cat o'nine tails, England, 19th century

One of the most feared punishments at sea. This cat did not come to cuddle but to scar the back of the guilty sailor. Traditionally, the offender had to make the cat himself.

Photo by me- IMM Hamburg

[caitoninetails]

For all the times you have to go run an errand and just wish you could text your cat. Which for me is every day. Anyway bye!

shop ✦ ko-fi ✦ wishlist

[weirdlookindog]

Il gatto a nove code (1971) - Pressbook

AKA The Cat o' Nine Tails

[thoughtartistry]

[play-my-game]

[kaleidoru]

BE CRIMES, DO GAY

[italianhorrors]

Lobby cards for The Cat O' Nine Tails, 1971.

[ltwilliammowett]

"Let the cat out of the bag" and "No room to swing a cat"

We know these two terms today in a different context, but we'll come to that later. First of all, we are dealing with both terms in the area of punishments, whether at sea or on land, but definitely with a military background. However, it can be said that they have been used in nautical language since the 1600s. But what exactly is meant by it, well when it was said let the cat out of the bag it meant that someone would be flogged.

Now not every warship was a space wonder and had a lot of space available and since all of the crew had to attend this event, the space was even tighter, and the " kitty cat " (not a cat in the true sense of the word but the cat o nine tails - the whip) we are talking about here was very long in the 17th century (later much shorter) and in order to swing it reasonably you needed space to hit the person to be punished reasonably. Hence the expression when it was too narrow - there wasn't enough room for the cat.

This expression is also used today when there is simply not enough space and it is quite crowded around you. When you say let the cat out of the bag, this is a colloquial expression that means to reveal previously hidden facts.

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[weirdlookindog]

Il gatto a nove code (1971)

AKA The Cat o' Nine Tails

[weirdstrangeandawful]

TW: flogging

This came up in A Good Man's Heart but I think it deserves to be a prompt:

A lot of ships in the Royal Navy (and probably other navies too I've just done less research) would keep both left- and right-handed boatswain's mates on hand so that the cat-o'-nine-tails would leave criss-crossing marks on the sailors' backs which hurt more than marks in only one direction.

Carroll was that left-handed boatswain but had it trained out of him once it stopped being convenient.

[schlock-luster-video]

On April 18, 2015, The Cat o' Nine Tails was screened on TCM Underground.

Here's some new Dario Argento art!

[kaleidoru]

your luck ran out

[movieposters1]