Catfish

Catfish (pronounced kat-fish)

(1) Any of the numerous mainly freshwater teleost fishes of the order or suborder Nematognathi (or Siluroidei), characterized by barbels around the mouth and the absence of scales, especially the silurids of Europe and Asia and the horned pouts of North America.

(2) A wolffish of the genus Anarhichas.

(3) In casual use, any of various other fishes having a fancied resemblance to a catfish.

(4) In slang, a person who assumes a false identity or personality on the internet, especially on social media, usually with an intent to deceive, manipulate, or swindle.

(5) To deceive, swindle, etc., by assuming a false identity or personality online.

(6) In casual use, any piece of machinery having a fancied resemblance to a catfish (and applied mostly to cars). 

1605–1615: The construct was cat + fish.  Dating from circa 700, cat was from the Middle English cat or catte and the Old English catt (masculine) & catte (feminine).  It was cognate with the Old Frisian and Middle Dutch katte, the Old High German kazza, Old Norse köttr, Irish cat, Welsh cath (thought derived from the Slavic kotŭ), the Russian kot and the Lithuanian katė̃; the Old French chat enduring.  The curious Late Latin cattus or catta was first noted in the fourth century, presumably associated with the arrival of domestic cats but of uncertain origin.  The Old English catt appears derived from the earlier (circa 400-440) West Germanic form which came from the Proto-Germanic kattuz which evolved into the Germanic forms, the Old Frisian katte, the Old Norse köttr, the Dutch kat, the Old High German kazza and the German Katze, the ultimate source being the Late Latin cattus.

The noun fish was from the pre-900 Middle English fish, fisch & fyssh, from the Old English fisc (fish), from the Proto-West Germanic fisk, from the Proto-Germanic fiskaz (fish).  It was cognate with the West Frisian fisk, the Dutch vis, the Old Norse fiskr, the Danish fisk, the Norwegian fisk, the Gothic fisks, the Swedish fisk and the German Fisch, the ultimate source probably the primitive Indo-European peysḱ (fish) & pisk (a fish) although there are etymologist who speculate, on phonetic grounds, that it may be a north-western Europe substratum word.  It was akin to the Latin piscis, the Irish verb iasc, the Middle English fishen and the Old English fiscian, cognate with the Dutch visschen, the German fischen, the Old Norse fiska and the Gothic fiskôn.  The verb fish was from the Old English fiscian (to fish, to catch or try to catch fish).  It was cognate with the Old Norse fiska, the Old High German fiscon, the German fischen and the Gothic fiskon.  The plural is fishes, but in a collective sense, or in reference to fish meat as food, the singular fish generally serves for a plural, thus the noun plural of catfish tends to be catfish but zoologists and other specialists, especially when referring to two or more kinds or species, will tend to prefer catfishes.

The catfish seems to have gained its name early in the seventeenth century following the practice adopted for the Atlantic wolf-fish, noted for its ferocity, the catfish picking up its moniker apparently because of the "whiskers" although the "purring" sound it sometimes makes upon being taken from the water has (less convincingly) been suggested as the origin; most zoologists and etymologists prefer the whiskers story while noting the correct name for the appendages is barbels.

The modern term catfishing describes a type on nefarious on-line activity in which a person uses information and images, typically taken from others, to construct a new identity for themselves.  In the most extreme examples, a catfisher can steal and assume another individual’s entire identity, enabling the possibility of using the fake persona to engage in fraud or other illegal activities.  Catfishing attacks may be targeted or opportunistic and have long been common on dating sites.  One niche activity is where only a few (or legally insignificant) elements  are involved (usually in an attempt to tempt younger subjects on dating sites) and there is no attempt to engage in illegal activity; this has been called kitten fishing.

There is nothing new in the concept of catfishing, cases documented in the literature for centuries, the ubiquity of the internet just making such scams both easier to execute and easier to detect.  The term in this context is derived from the 2010 American documentary Catfish, which concerned a 26 year old man who, thinking he was building an on-line relationship with a 19 year old woman, discovered his digital interlocutor was actually a married women of 40.  The documentary (and thus the on-line behavior) gained the name from a mention the woman's husband made when comparing his wife’s conduct to the myth that it was once the practice to include one or more catfish in the tank when shipping live cod, the rationale said to be the cod would remain active in the presence of codfish whereas if shipped alone, would become pale and lethargic, reducing the quality of the flesh.  The source of the myth was the 1913 psychological novel Catfish by Charles Marriott (1869-1957), the fanciful story repeated that same year by Henry Wooded Nevinson (1856-1941) in his political treatise, Essays in Rebellion.

Etymologically unrelated (although not wholly dissimilar in practice) was the earlier internet slang phishing which described a kind of social engineering in which an attacker sends a deceptive message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information or induce them in some way to install malicious software such as key-stroke grabbers or ransomware.  Phishing is a leetspeak variant of fishing which compares the digital activity to actual angling, the idea being the casting of lines with lures in the hope there will be bites at the bait.  The first known reference to phishing dates from 1995 but there was apparently an earlier mention in the magazine 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, the word coined following the earlier phreaking.  Phishing has for years been the most common attack performed by cybercriminals.

Catfish and some cars they inspired.

First seen on a few eccentric examples during the 1930s, the distinctive, if not always pleasing “catfish look” emerged on volume production automobiles during the 1950s.  Even then the look was a stylistic curiosity but it was an age of extravagance and among the macropteric creations of the era, the catfish cars represented just one of many directions the industry could have followed.  Nor was the catfish look wholly without engineering merit, the low bonnet (hood) line improving aerodynamic efficiency, the wide, gaping aperture of the grill permitting adequate air-flow for engine cooling with headlamps able still to satisfy regulatory height requirements.  Classic examples of catfish styling includes the original Citroen DS, the Packard Hawk and the Daimler SP250.

Daimler SP250 (1959-1964)

The Daimler SP250 was first shown to the public at the 1959 New York Motor Show and there the problems began.  Aware the little sports car was quite a departure from the luxurious but rather staid lineup Daimler had for years offered, the company had chosen the pleasingly alliterative “Dart” as its name, hoping it would convey the sense of something agile and fast.  Unfortunately, Chrysler’s lawyers were faster still, objecting that they had already registered Dart as the name for a full-sized Dodge so Daimler needed a new name and quickly; the big Dodge would never be confused with the little Daimler but the lawyers insisted.

Using one of his trademark outdoor settings, Norman Parkinson (1913-1990) photographed model Suzanne Kinnear (b 1935) adorning a Daimler SP250, wearing a Kashmoor coat and Otto Lucas beret with jewels by Cartier.  The image was published on the cover of Vogue's UK edition in November 1959.

Imagination apparently exhausted, Daimler’s management reverted to the engineering project name and thus the car became the SP250 which was innocuous enough even for Chrysler's attorneys and it could have been worse.  Dodge had submitted their Dart proposal to Chrysler for approval and while the car found favor, the name did not and the marketing department was told to conduct research and come up with something the public would like.  From this the marketing types gleaned that “Dodge Zipp” would be popular and to be fair, dart and zip(p) do imply much the same thing but ultimately the original was preferred and Darts remained in Dodge’s lineup until 1976, for most of that time one of the corporation's best-selling and most profitable lines.  The name was revived between 2012-2016 for an unsuccessful and unlamented compact sedan.

1961 Daimler SP250.

Daimler’s SP250 didn’t enjoy the same longevity, the last of the 2654 produced in 1964, sales never having approached the projected 3000 per year, most of which were expected to be absorbed by the US market.  The catfish styling probably didn’t help, a hint being the informal poll taken at the 1959 show when the thing was voted “the ugliest car of the show” but under the skin of the ugly duckling was a virile swan.  The heart of the SP250 was a jewel-like 2.5 litre (155 cubic inch) hemi-headed V8 which combined the structure of Cadillac’s V8 with advanced cylinder heads which owed much to those of the Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle engine.  Indeed, the designer, Edward Turner (1901–1973), owned a Cadillac and was responsible for the Triumph heads so the influences weren’t surprising and the little engine had an interesting gestation.  It was Turner’s first car engine and so tied was he to the principles which had proved so successful for his motorcycles that the original concept was air-cooled and fed by eight carburetors.  Automotive reality however prevailed and what emerged was a compact, light (190 KG (419 lb)), water-cooled V8 with the inevitable twin SU carburetors, the project yielding also an only slightly bulkier (226 KG (498 lb)) 4.6 litre (278 cubic inch) version which would be tragically under-utilized by a British motor industry which could greatly have benefited from a wider deployment of both instead of some engines which proved pure folly.  The Daimler V8s are notable too for their intoxicating exhaust notes, perhaps not a critical aspect of engineering but one which adds much to the pleasure of ownership.

Daimler SP250, winner of the 1962 Bathurst 6 Hour Classic (Leo Geoghegan & Ian Geoghegan).

Under-capitalized and lacking the funds needed to revitalize their dated range, let alone develop new high-volume models, the SP250 was created on a shoestring budget, the body built in the then still novel fibreglass, not by deliberate choice but because the tooling and related production facilities could be fabricated for a fraction of the cost had steel or aluminum been used.  It also lessened the development time and promised a simpler and cheaper upgrade path in the future but also brought problems of its own.  New to the material, Daimler’s engineers were confronted with many of the same problems which Chevrolet encountered during the early days of the Corvette, issues which even with the vast resources of General Motors, proved troublesome.  Other than the fibreglass body, the SP250 was technologically conventional, using a chassis little different from that of the Triumph TR3, built in a 14 gauge box section with central cruciform bracing.  The chassis was designed to be light and that was certainly achieved but at the cost of structural rigidity, again an issue of the use of fibreglass, the engineers (in pre-CAD times) under-estimating the stiffness which would be demanded in a structure without metal panels further to distribute the loadings. 

1962 Daimler SP250 prepared for competition in British Racing Green (BRG) with factory hardtop and Minilite wheels.

The lack of sufficient torsional rigidity meant the SP250s were beset with the same teething problem as the first Corvettes: the fibreglass panels could become crazed or even crack and, most disconcertingly, doors were prone to springing open during brisk cornering and the bonnet (hood) sometimes popped open as the body flexed at high speed.  The SP250 was a genuinely fast car so these were not minor issues.  Still, there was much to commend the SP250.  Wind-up windows and the availability of an automatic transmission sound hardly ground-breaking but they were an innovation unknown on the MG, Triumph and Austin-Healy roadsters of the time and the V8 was unique.  The suspension was conventional but competent, an independent front end with upper and lower arms, coil springs, and telescopic shock absorbers while the rear used semi-elliptic leaf springs with lever arm shock absorbers.  The unassisted cam and peg system steering lacked the precision the Italians achieved even without using a rack and pinion system but, aided by a larger than usual steering wheel, it offered a reasonable compromise for the time although at low speed it was far from effortless.  More commendable were the brakes.  The four-wheel discs had no power assistance but the SP250 was a light car and the servo systems of the time, lacking feel and impeding the progressiveness inherent in the design of the early discs, meant unassisted systems were preferable for sports cars although, efficient and fade-free though they were, an emergency stop from speed did demand high pedal effort.  One curiosity in the configuration was the bumper bars.  Considering the issue bumpers would become in the 1970s, that they were once optional is an indication of how different the regulatory environment was at the time. The A spec SP250s had no bumpers as standard equipment but were fitted at the front with what are sometimes mistakenly called nerf-bars but are actually “bumperettes” although the English seem to like “whiskers”. At the rear were over-riders attached to nerf-bars. The B spec models didn’t include these but, like the A spec, the full bumpers were an optional extra and this setup was continued for the C spec. The SP250s used by the British Metropolitan Police as high speed pursuit cars always had the optional bumpers because of the need to mount the warning bell and auxiliary spotlight.

1960 Daimler SP250 (automatic) in UK police pursuit specification.

So, developed to the extent possible with the resources available, production began in 1959, shortly before the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) announced the sale of Daimler to Jaguar.  Jaguar, attracted by Daimler’s extensive manufacturing facilities and its skilled workforce regarded most of the Daimler range as antiquated but allowed some production to continue although their engineers decided the chassis of the SP250 needed significant modifications to improve rigidity.  The strengthening was undertaken and the revised cars became known as the “B” models, the original 1959-1960 versions retrospectively labeled as A-Spec.  The changes were actually not extensive, a steel box section hoop added to connect the windscreen pillars, two steel outrigger sill beams along each side of the chassis, complimented with a couple of strategically placed braces.  The stiffer structure solved the problems and improved the driving experience, the B-spec cars produced between 1960-1963.  A subsequent upgrade, dubbed C-spec included some features such as a cigar lighter and a heater/demister and in this form, the cars remained in production until 1964.

Daimler SP252 prototype (1964)

Unfortunately, Jaguar was never enthusiastic about Daimler except as a badge which could be used on up-market Jaguars sold at a nice profit.  However, whatever the opinions of the catfish styling, the SP250 had proved itself in motorsport and, capable of a then impressive 122 mph (196 km/h), had been used as a high-speed pursuit vehicle by a number of police forces, interestingly usually with an automatic transmission, the choice made in the interest of reduced maintenance, a conclusion rental car companies would soon reach.  For that reason, the potential was clear and Jaguar explored a way to extend the appeal with a restyled body.  The result was the SP252, rendered still in fibreglass but now more elegantly done, hints of both the MGB and Jaguar E-Type (XK-E) while the rear owed some debt to Aston Martin’s DB4.  Aesthetically accomplished though it was, economic reality prevailed.  The factory was tooled-up to produce no more than 140 of the V8 engines each week, demand for which was already exceeding supply since it had been offered in the Jaguar Mk2-based Daimler 2.5 (later 250) saloon and Jaguar lacked the production capacity even to make enough E-types to meet demand.  Given that and the engineering resources it required to devote to the new V12 engine and the XJ6 saloon for which it was intended, another relatively low-volume project couldn’t be justified.

Produced between 1955-1975, the Citroën DS, although long regarded as something quintessentially French was actually designed by an Italian.  It was offered as the DS and the lower priced, mechanically simpler ID, the names apparently an deliberate play on words, DS in French pronounced déesse (goddess) and ID idée (idea).  The goddess nickname caught on though idea never did; a curiously configured version built exclusively for the UK market was called the DW which appears to have meant nothing in particular.  The frontal aspect, combined with the efficiency of the rest of the body, delivered outstandingly good aerodynamics but the catfish look was tempered a little because the low, gaping grill associated with the motif wasn’t adopted, reputedly because the ancient engine, a long-stroke and agricultural relic of the 1930s, produced so little power there wasn’t enough surplus energy to induce overheating, the need for a cooling flow of air correspondingly low.  That’s wholly apocryphal but later progress in design anyway softened the catfish effect.  It was most obvious on the series 1 cars (top) which were made between 1955-1962.  The Series 2 changes (1964-1967; centre) were effected further to improve aerodynamics and permitted also some increase to the airflow ducted for interior ventilation; the changes in appearance were said to be incidental to the process.  The catfish look vanished entirely when the series 3 cars (bottom) were introduced in 1967.

Now with four headlamps mounted behind glass canopies, the shape of which was integrated into the front fenders (top left), the arrangement was noted for the novelty of the inner set of lens being controlled by the steering (top right), the light thus being projected “around the corner” in the direction of travel, swiveling by up to 80°.  It was a simple, purely mechanical connection and the idea had during the 1930s used with auxiliary driving or fog-lights and the central (Cyclops) unit on the abortive Tucker Torpedo (1948) had been configured the same way but the DS was the first car to use adaptive headlights in volume.  Both the covers and the turning mechanism fell afoul of US regulations (lower left) so there the lens were fixed and exposed.  Another variation was in Scandinavian markets were miniature wipers were fitted.

1958 Packard Hawk

Fittingly perhaps, the gaping-mouth of the catfish style was applied to what proved one of the last gasps for Packard, a storied marque with roots in the nineteenth century which in the inter-war years had been one of the most prestigious in the US and it had been the sound of the V12 Packards which inspired Enzo Ferrari (1989-1988) to produce his own.  After spending World War II engaged in military production, notably a version of the Merlin V12 aero-engine built under license from Rolls-Royce, Packard emerged in 1945 in sound financial state but found the new world challenging, eventually in 1953 merging with fellow struggling independent, Studebaker.  Beset with internal conflicts from the start, things went from bad to worse and after dismal sales in 1958-1959 of the final Packards (which were really modified Studebakers and derided by many as "Packardbakers"), the Packard brand was retired with the coming of 1959.  The Studebaker-Packard Corporation in 1962 reverted to again become Studebaker but it was to no avail, the last Studebaker being produced in 1967.   

1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk.  Whatever the criticism of the catfish-like Packard, the car on which it was based was perhaps even more ungainly.

The origins of Packard’s swansong, the Hawk, lay in a 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk 400 which was customized in-house for executive use.  The front end and bonnet (hood) were rendered in fiberglass, eliminating the familiar upright grille and small side inlets which were replaced with the low, wide air intake so characteristic of the catfish look.  Covering all bases, for those unconvinced by the catfish look, a pair of modest dagmars were added.  Because the engine was supercharged, like the Studebaker, the hood included a bulge but because of the lower lines, it rose higher on the Packard.  Lacking the funds to create anything better, the Hawk was approved for production as a standard 1958 model but it was from the start doomed.  It was expensive and its debut coincided with the recession of that year when all auto-makers suffered downturns but, with the rumors swirling of Studebaker-Packard's impending demise, Packard suffered more than most and only 588 Hawks were built.

1958 Packard 

Packard’s rather plaintive swansong was another set of cobbled-together Packardbakers, available as a two-door hardtop and a four-door sedan or wagon.  In 1958, fins were a thing at the rear but what really exited the stylists was that quad headlamps were now permitted in all 48 states.  Unlike the majors however, the corporation had no funds to re-tool body dies to accommodate the change so hurriedly, fibreglass pods were created which when fitted, looked as tacked-on as they really were.  Also tacked on were the new fins which sat atop the old although these were at least genuine steel rather than fibreglass.

1958 Chrysler Royal (AP2) and 1960 Chrysler Royal (AP3) (Australian)

They were also definitely always standard equipment on all the Packards, unlike the 1958 Australian Chrysler Royal (AP2) which featured similar appendages grafted to pre-existing fins, Chrysler listing them as an optional extra called "saddle fins".  However, no Royal apparently was sold without saddle fins attached so either (1) they were very popular option or (2) Chrysler changed their mind after the promotional material was printed and decided to invent mandatory options, a marketing trick Detroit would soon widely (and profitably) adopt.  In 1960, the Australians also solved the problem of needing to add quad headlamps without either a re-tool or plastic pods, changing instead the grill and mounting the lights in a vertical stack, an expedient Mercedes-Benz had recently used to ensure their new W111 (Heckflosse) sedans satisfied US legislation.

Atrophy & Hypertrophy

Atrophy (pronounced a-truh-fee)

(1) In pathology, a wasting away of the body or of an organ or part, or a failure to grow to normal size as the result of disease, defective nutrition, nerve damage or hormonal changes.

(2) Degeneration, decline, or decrease, as from disuse.

1590–1600: From the earlier Middle French atrophie and Late Latin atrophia from the Ancient Greek ἀτροφία (atrophía) (a wasting away), (derived from trephein (to feed)) from ἄτροφος (átrophos) (ill-fed, un-nourished), the construct being ἀ- (a-) (not) + τροφή (trophḗ) (nourishment) from τρέφω (tréphō) (I fatten).  Atrophic is the most familiar adjectival form.  The a- prefix, a proclitic form of preposition, is from the Ancient Greek ἀ- (not, without) and is used to form taxonomic names indicating a lack of some feature that might be expected.  In Middle English a- (up, out, away) was from the Old English ā- (originally ar- & or-) from the Proto-Germanic uz- (out-), from the primitive Indo-European uds- (up, out); it was cognate with the Old Saxon ā- and the German er-.  The suffix –ia is from Classical Latin from the Ancient Greek -ία (-ía) & -εια (-eia) and was used to form abstract nouns of feminine gender.  It creates names of countries, diseases, flowers, and (rarely) collections of things such as militaria & deletia).

Hypertrophy (pronounced hahy-pur-truh-fee)

(1) In physiology, the abnormal (but usually non-tumorous) enlargement of an organ or a tissue as a result of an increase in the size rather than the number of constituent cells.

(2) By analogy, excessive growth or accumulation of any kind.

1825–1835: A compound word hyper- + -trophy.  Hyper is from the French hypertrophie, from the Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér) (over, excessive), from the primitive Indo-European upér (over, above) (from which English gained over), from upo (under, below) (source of the English up). It was cognate with the Latin super- and is a common prefix appearing in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “over,” usually implying excess or exaggeration (eg hyperbole); on this model used, especially as opposed to hypo-, in the formation of compound words.

Hypertrophied catfish now found in the cooling ponds of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor which in 1986 suffered a meltdown and subsequent explosion.  Their huge size is not a radiation-induced mutation but a result of the absence of a predator since humans were removed from their environment.

Cat

Cat (pronounced kat)

(1) A small domesticated carnivore, Felis domestica or F. catus, bred in a number of varieties.

(2) Any of several carnivores of the family Felidae, as the lion, tiger, leopard or jaguar.

(3) A woman given to spiteful or malicious gossip (archaic).

(4) In historic Admiralty jargon, the truncated term for the cat-o'-nine-tails, a whip used to administer corporal punishment on ships at sea.

(5) A contraction of generalized use in words staring with cat (category, catboat, catamaran, catfish, catapult, catalytic et al).

(6) In nautical use, a tackle used in hoisting an anchor to the cathead.

(7) A double tripod having six legs but resting on only three no matter how it is set down, usually used before or over a fire.

(8) In medieval warfare, a movable shelter for providing protection when approaching a fortification.

(9) In aviation, the acronym for clear-air-turbulence.

(10) In medical diagnostics, the acronym for computerized axial tomography.

(11) In computing, the acronym for computer-aided teaching and computer-assisted trading

Circa 700:  From the Middle English cat or catte and the Old English catt (masculine) & catte (feminine).  It was cognate with the Old Frisian and Middle Dutch katte, the Old High German kazza, Old Norse köttr, Irish cat, Welsh cath (thought derived from the Slavic kotŭ), the Russian kot and the Lithuanian katė̃; the Old French chat enduring.  The curious Late Latin cattus or catta was first noted in the fourth century, presumably associated with the arrival of domestic cats but of uncertain origin.  The Old English catt appears derived from the earlier (circa 400-440) West Germanic form which came from the Proto-Germanic kattuz which evolved into the Germanic forms, the Old Frisian katte, the Old Norse köttr, the Dutch kat, the Old High German kazza and the German Katze, the ultimate source being the Late Latin cattus.

The prefix meaning “down, against or back,” occurred originally in loanwords from the Greek (cataclysm; catalog; catalepsy) and on the basis this model, was used in the formation of other compound words such as catagenesis or cataphyll.  The source was the Greek kata, a combining form of katá (down, through, against, according to, towards, during).  A most active prefix in the Ancient Greek, in English it’s found mostly in Latin words borrowed after circa 1500.  As applied, the meanings from the Greek attached to the constructs: down (catabolism), away, off (catalectic), against (category), according to (catholic) and thoroughly (catalogue).  In Byzantine Greek, spelling was katta and by circa 700 the variations were in universal European use, the Latin feles almost wholly supplanted.

In the literature, a Latin root is cited because it’s documented but, linguists suggest ultimate source was probably Afro-Asiatic, noting the Nubian kadis, and Berber kadiska, both of which meant "cat" and the Arabic qitt (tomcat) may be from the same source.  Despite that, in English, meaning extended to the big cats (lions, tigers etc) only after circa 1600.  In the early thirteenth century, it was used as a term of disapprobation for women, used sometimes as a synonym for prostitute.  In African-American use, it was a way of referring to one’s own or other cohorts while the application to jazz musicians or their audience emerged in the 1920s, both being adopted as part of the language of the counter-culture in the 1960s, the latter phase without the earlier racial specificity.

Phrases associated with the cat o’ nine tails

The cat o’ nine tails ("the cat" in the vernacular), was a short whip used to administer corporal punishment in the British military, most notably by the Royal Navy.  Used as a judicial punishment in many countries, there are references to in police reports as early as 1691 but the term became more widely used after 1695 when it was mentioned in the script of a play, the Admiralty adopting it somewhat later.  The cat is widely believed to be the source of a number of sayings but among etymologists, opinion is divided.  Although the British Army formerly abolished flogging in 1881, it the navy it was only ever “suspended” although it's said no sentences have been imposed since 1879.

Cat got your tongue?:  Said to refer to those about the be punished often being somewhat lost for words at the sight of the whip, some linguists point-out it wasn’t seen in print until the 1880s and suggest its most likely the invention of children.

Bell the cat:  At sea, a bell would sound prior to floggings being administered.  A more prosaic explanation is the practice of attaching collars with bells to domestic cats to (1) make them easier to find and (2) protect birds and other small creatures.

Let the cat out of the bag:  To avoid the leather of the tails becoming brittle or stiff, when not in use, the cat was kept in a bag filled with sea-brine.  It’s also suggested it’s a variation of “pig in a poke (bag)”; a way of cautioning folk not to buy animals in bags given worthless felines could be substituted for valuable piglets.  Letting the cat out of the bag disclosed the trick.

Not enough room to swing a cat:  The sailors’ informal term for decrying the small spaces below deck.  This was long-thought to reference the dimensions required to use the cat as intended but some sources, noting the phrase pre-existed the Admiralty’s use, suggest, perhaps speculatively, it must refer to manhandled felines.  In this case, the naval connection is preferred.

While the cat’s away, the mice will play:  Nothing specifically naval, a general reference to cats and mice, the simile extending to what the untrustworthy get up to in the absence of figures of authority.

Rubbing salt into the wound: When the punishment was complete, the wounds were usually cleaned with especially salty brine or seawater, a basic and sometimes effective precaution against infection.  The modern meaning of the phrase is derived from the additional pain caused rather than the primitive infection control and is thus a variation of “adding insult to injury” (or really, adding injury to injury), the notion of gratuitously or vindictively adding to existing pain.

Lindsay Lohan clad in cat theme for Halloween party at the Cuckoo Club, London, October 2015.

Catwalk

Catwalk (pronounced kat-wawk)

(1) A narrow walkway, especially one high above the surrounding area, used to provide access or allow workers to stand or move, as over the stage in a theater, outside the roadway of a bridge, along the top of a railroad car etc; any similar elevated walkway.

(2) By extension, a narrow ramp extending from the stage into the audience in a theatre, nightclub etc, associated especially with those used by models during fashion shows (although the gender-neutral “runway” is now sometimes used in preference to “catwalk”).

(3) In nautical architecture, an elevated enclosed passage providing access fore and aft from the bridge of a merchant vessel.

(4) By extension, as "the catwalk", industry slang for the business of making clothes for fashion shows.

1874: The construct was cat + walk.  The use of catwalk to describe a long, narrow footway was a reference initially to those especially of such narrowness of passage that one had to cross as a cat walks.  It applied originally to ships and then theatrical back-stages, the first known use with a fashion show runway dating from 1942.  In architecture on land and at sea, the catwalk soon lost its exclusive association only with the narrow and came instead to be defined by function, used to describe any walkway between two points.  The noun plural is catwalks.  For both nautical and architectural purposes, the English catwalk was borrowed by many languages including Norwegian (Bokmål & Nynorsk) and Dutch and it’s used almost universally in fashion shows.  Some languages such as the Ottoman Turkish قات‎ use the spelling kat and some formed the plural as catz.

Cat (any member of the suborder (sometimes superfamily) Feliformia or Feloidea): feliform (cat-like) carnivoran & feloid or any member of the subfamily Felinae, genera Puma, Acinonyx, Lynx, Leopardus, and Felis or any member of the subfamily Pantherinae, genera Panthera, Uncia and Neofelise and (in historic use, any member of the extinct subfamily Machairodontinae, genera Smilodon, Homotherium, Miomachairodus etc, most famously the Smilodontini, Machairodontini (Homotherini), Metailurini, "sabre-toothed cat" (often incorrectly referred to as the sabre-toothed tiger) but now most associated with the domesticated species (Felis catus) of felines, commonly and apparently since the eight century kept as a house pet)) was from the Middle English cat & catte, from the Old English catt (male cat) & catte (female cat), from the Proto-West Germanic kattu, from the Proto-Germanic kattuz, from the Latin cattus.

Cat has most productively been applied in English to describe a wide variety of objects and states of the human condition including (1) a spiteful or angry woman (from the early thirteenth century but now almost wholly supplanted by “bitch” (often with some clichéd or imaginative modifier)), (2) An aficionado or player of jazz, (3) certain male persons (a use associated mostly with hippies or sub-set of African-American culture), (4) historic (early fifteenth century) slang for a prostitute, (5) in admiralty use, strong tackle used to hoist an anchor to the cathead of a ship, (6) in admiralty use, a truncated form of cat-o'-nine-tails (a multi-lash (not all were actually nine-tailed)) whip used by the Royal Navy et al to enforce on-board discipline), (7) in admiralty use, a sturdy merchant sailing vessel (long archaic although the use endures to describe the rather smaller "catboat", (8) as “cat & dog (cat being the trap), a archaic alternative name for the game "trap and ball", (9) the pointed piece of wood that is struck in the game of tipcat, (1) In the African-American vernacular, vulgar slang or the vagina, a vulva; the female external genitalia, (11) a double tripod (for holding a plate etc) with six feet, of which three rest on the ground, in whatever position it is placed, (12) a wheeled shelter, used in the Middle Ages as a siege weapon to allow assailants to approach enemy defenses, (13) in admiralty slang, to vomit, (14) in admiralty slang to o hoist (the anchor) by its ring so that it hangs at the cathead, (15) in computing, a program and command in the Unix operating system that reads one or more files and directs their content to the standard output (16) in the slang of computing, to dump large amounts of data on an unprepared target usually with no intention of browsing it carefully (which may have been a sardonic allusion of “to catalogue or a shortened form of catastrophic although both origins are unverified, a street name of the drug methcathinone, (17) in ballistics and for related accelerative uses, a shortened form of catapult, (18) for purposes of digital and other exercises in classification, a shortening of category, (19) an abbreviation of many words starting with “cat”) (catalytic converter, caterpillar (including as “CAT” by the manufacturer Caterpillar, maker of a variety of earth-moving and related machines)) catfish, etc, (20) any (non military-combat) caterpillar drive vehicle (a ground vehicle which uses caterpillar tracks), especially tractors, trucks, minibuses, and snow groomers.

Walk was from the Middle English walken (to move, roll, turn, revolve, toss), from the Old English wealcan (to move round, revolve, roll, turn, toss) & ġewealcan (to go, traverse) and the Middle English walkien (to roll, stamp, walk, wallow), from the Old English wealcian (to curl, roll up), all from the Proto-Germanic walkaną & walkōną (to twist, turn, roll about, full), from the primitive Indo-European walg- (to twist, turn, move).  It was cognate with the Scots walk (to walk), the Saterland Frisian walkje (to full; drum; flex; mill), the West Frisian swalkje (to wander, roam), the Dutch walken (to full, work hair or felt), the Dutch zwalken (to wander about), the German walken (to lex, full, mill, drum), the Danish valke & waulk), the Latin valgus (bandy-legged, bow-legged) and the Sanskrit वल्गति (valgati) (amble, bound, leap, dance).  It was related to vagrant and whelk and a doublet of waulk.

Walk has contributed to many idiomatic forms including (1) in colloquial legal jargon, “to walk” (to win (or avoid) a criminal court case, particularly when actually guilty, (2) as a colloquial, euphemistic, “for an object to go missing or be stolen, (3) in cricket (of the batsman), to walk off the field, as if given out, after the fielding side appeals and before the umpire has ruled; done as a matter of sportsmanship when the batsman believes he is out or when the dismissal is so blatantly obvious that the umpire’s decision is inevitable, (4) in baseball, to allow a batter to reach first base by pitching four balls (ie non-strikes), (5) to move something by shifting between two positions, as if it were walking, (6) (also as “to full”, to beat cloth to give it the consistency of felt, (6) in the slang of computer programming, to debug a routine by “walking the heap”, (7) in aviation, to operate the left and right throttles of an aircraft in alternation, (8) in employment, to leave, to resign, (9) in the now outlawed “sports” of dog & cock-fighting, to put, keep, or train (a puppy or bird) in a walk, or training area, (10) in the hospitality trade, to move a guest to another hotel if their confirmed reservation is not available at the time they arrive to check-in (also as to bump), (11) in the hospitality trade, as “walk-in”, a customer who “walks-in from the street” to book a room or table without a prior reservation, (12) in graph theory, a sequence of alternating vertices and edges, where each edge's endpoints are the preceding and following vertices in the sequence, (13) In coffee, coconut, and other plantations, the space between the rows of plants (from the Caribbean and most associated with  Belize, Guyana & Jamaica, (14) in orchids, an area planted with fruit-bearing trees, (15) in colloquial use, as “a walk in the park” or “a cakewalk”, something very easily accomplished (same as “a milk-run”) and (16) in the (now rare) slang of the UK finance industry, a cheque drawn on a bank that was not a member of the LCCS (London Cheque (check in the US) Clearance System), the sort-code of which was allocated on a one-off basis; they had to be "walked" (ie hand-delivered by messengers).

On the catwalk: Lindsay Lohan in a Heart Truth Red Dress during Olympus Fashion Week, Fall, 2006, The Tent, New York City.

How to walk like catwalk model

Traci Halvorson of Halvorson Model Management (HMM) in San Jose, California, has written a useful guide for those wishing to learn the technique of walking like a catwalk (increasingly now called the gender-neutral “runway”) model.  Although walking on a wide, stable flat surface, in a straight line with few other instructions except “don’t fall over”, doesn’t sound difficult, the art is actually a tightly defined set of parameters which not all can master.  Some models who excel at static shots and are well-known from their photographic work can’t be used on a catwalk because their gait, while within the normal human range, simply isn’t a “catwalk walk”.  It’s thus a construct, of clothes, shoes, style and even expression and catwalk models need to be adaptable, able to achieve essentially the same thing whether in 6-inch (150 mm) high stilettos or slippery-soled ballet flats; it’s harder than it sounds and as all models admit, nothing improves one’s technique like practice.

(1) The facial expression.  It sounds a strange place to start but it’s not because if the facial expression is unchanging it means it’s easier to focus on everything else, the rational being that humans use their range of facial expression to convey emotion and attitude but this all has to be neutralized to permit the photographers (paradoxically the audience is less relevant) to capture what are defined “catwalk” shots.  Set the chin to point slightly down though don’t hang the head; the angle should be almost imperceptible and it recommended to imagine an invisible string attached to the top of the head holding the chin in its set position.

(2) Do not smile.  Catwalk models do not smile because it draws attention away from the product although this does not mean looking miserable or unhappy; instead look “serious” and this usually is done by perfecting what is described as a “neutral” expression, one which would defy an observer being able to tell whether the wearer is happy or sad.  To achieve this, the single most important aspect is to keep the mouth closed in a natural position, something like what is recommended for a passport photograph and ask others to judge the look but as a note of caution, there will be failures because some girls just look sort of happy no matter what.  In most of life, this will be of advantage so a career other than the catwalk will beckon.

(3) On the catwalk, keep the eyes focused straight ahead.  This not only makes walking easier but also self-imposes a discipline which will help maintain the static facial expression.  Because the eyes are focused straight-ahead, it will stop the head moving and the look will be the desired one of alertness and purposefulness.  Some models recommend imagining a object moving in front of them and focus on that and in the situations where there’s a procession on the catwalk, it’s possible usually to fixate on some unmoving point on the model ahead.

(5) Don’t fall over.  It’s an obvious point but it does happen and usually, shoes are responsible, either because the nature of the construction has so altered the model’s centre of gravity or there's  contact between footwear and some flowing piece of fabric, either one’s own or one in the wake of the model ahead.  There is no better training to avoid “catwalk stacks” than to practice in a wide variety of shoe types.

(5) If possible, arrange a replica catwalk on which to practice, it need only to be a few paces long and arranged so the walk is towards a full-length mirror.  For side views, film using a carefully positioned camera and compare the result with footage of actual catwalk models at work.  If possible, work in pairs or a group because you’ll hone each other’s techniques but remember this is serious business and criticism will need to be frank; feelings may need to be hurt on the walk to the catwalk.

(6) Stand up straight, imagining the invisible string holding the head in place being also attached to the spine.  Keep the shoulders back but not unnaturally so, posture needs to be good but not stiff or exaggerated and a good posture can to some extent compensate for a lack of height.  Again, this needs to be practiced in front of a mirror and practice will improve the technique, the object being to stand straight while looking relaxed and comfortable.

(7) Perfecting the actual catwalk walk will take some time because, although it looks entirely natural when done by models, it’s not actually the “natural” way most people walk.  To train, begin purely mechanistically, placing one foot in front of the other and walking with (comfortably) long strides, the best trick being to mark a line on the floor with chalk and imagine walking on a rope, keeping one foot in front of the other, allowing the hips slightly to move from side to side; the classic model look.  With sufficient practice, what designers call the model’s “strut” will evolve and in conjunction with the other techniques, there’ll be a projection of assuredness and confidence.

(8) However, the hips need symmetrically and slightly to move, not swing.  Catwalk models are hired as platforms for clothes within a narrow dimensional range and this includes not only the cut of the fabric but also the extent it is required to move as the body moves and motion must not be exaggerated.  When practicing this, again it’s preferable to work in pairs or groups.

How it's done.  Catwalk models need to look good coming or going.

(9) Limit the movement of the arms when walking.  Let the arms hang at the sides with the hands relaxed, the swing of the limbs sufficient only to ensure the look is not unnaturally stylized and certainly nothing like that of most people on the street.  Many report when first practicing that there’s a tendency for the hands to clench into fists and that’s because of the discipline being imposed on other body parts but from the start, ensure the hands are relaxed, loosely cupped and with a small (natural) gap (something like ¼ inch (5-6 mm) between the fingers.  Allow the arms slightly to bend and they’ll sway (just a little) with the body.

(10) Practice specifically for the occasion.  Just as even the best tennis players have to practice on grass if they’ve just come off playing on clay or hard-courts, at least an hour before an actual catwalk session should be spent practicing in the same style of shoes as will be worn for the session(s).  This applies even if wearing something less challenging like flats because the change in weight distribution and the resultant centre of gravity is profound if the last few days have been spent in 6 inch (150 mm) heels.     

(11) Practice with different types of music because the catwalk walk really is an exercise in rhythm and if one can find a piece which really suits and makes the walk easier to perfect, if it’s possible to imagine that while on the catwalk, that’s good although sometimes there’s music at the shows and not all can focus on what’s in the head while excluding what’s coming through the speakers.

Traci Halvorson's instructions were of course aimed at neophytes wishing to learn the basic technique but among established models there are variations and the odd stake of the individualistic, the most eye-catching of which is the "fierce strut", a usually fast-paced and aggressive march down the catwalk while still using the classic one-foot-in-front-of-the-other motif which so defines the industry.  It's thus not quite Nazi-style goose-stepping or even the hybrid step used most enthusiastically by the female soldiers in the DPRK (North Korean) military but it's clearly strutting with intent.

Recent fierce struts on the catwalk (runway).