Cat Got Your Tongue?

Interesting fact The origin of the idiom 'cat got your tongue' is an intriguing one. Although many believe the “cat” in question is of the feline variety, it’s actually the cat o’ nine tails, a whip commonly used to flog sailors who misbehaved. On English sailing ships, anyone entrusted with a secret by a higher officer would be threatened with “the cat” for telling; thus, the saying 'has the cat got your tongue?' became slang for 'are you afraid to tell?'

That is barbaric! I doubt very much that Doodles would enjoy a tongue from liars or blasphemers. He prefers fish.

There are so many sayings and it would be interesting if we knew their origins. "Slowly, slowly catchy monkey" comes to mind and its origins are explained here

Very barbaric, poor wee kitties suffered eating tongue ..... I'll bet those ancients would strive not to get caught telling little white lies.

Oh Lord, I knew they cut the tongue of liars and blasphemers (they still do in some countries), but I did not know that they gave the tongue to the cats.

Wow! It would be a good reason not to lie.

You, and @marlina as well had interesting sources. I was going to guess it came from the old wives tale that a cat would suck out the breath of a baby. I was wrong all over the board.

Oh my! I thought Ancient Egypt highly respected cats - I wonder why they fed them that !

Oh yikes! It makes me very glad that I am not living in Ancient Egypt. Not that I lie, but then I couldnt' trust that someone might assume I was lying and cut my tongue out.

oh dear! i'm tellin' ya, mankind does horrific thingies to their fella humans 'n all livin' things.

Yikes! I'm glad that I eventually learned to tell the truth:( As a child, I loved to stretch the truth and tell little white lies.

@jaboUK Thanks and that is sad what that term means.

very barbaric! i dont know if it is still the law in some middle.east countries. countries who still practice it lack civilization

Yeah actually cruel....

How awful and to think that they built those pyramids well I never. They always assumed that the cat had already got my tongue anyway. Cats gorrer tongue is what they said.

it is ....but they were quite barbaric in them days .. but I'm glad u shared that... I've often wondered where that came from...

Yum lucky cats!

I didn't know that. Thanks for enlightening me. However, I am not surprised by the barbarism. Laws and punishments in the past were barbaric.

Those were far crueler times than today.

Wow, I've heard that expression all my life and never wondered at it. They surely didn't like liars in Egypt.