Thank you both of you for a lighter, nonetheless enlightening, funny moment, not to forget the link.
But I have to sternly admonish you. You from a very young nation, I am telling you, from my old continent, my old country, with so much history ( impersonating of Minister Dominique de Villepin at UN ? yes! so what! he surey deserved it one way or another, you decide which :-) ), you forgot some things :
- never hurt a cat if only with ridicule, bad form in that older nations : U.K, cat's lovers will have your hides for garters! Do you good!
- never make fun of a cat, one should never mock superiors beings.
- never tell sad stories about cats,even in jest, they might transmogrify into Urban Legends.
- why would there be no flying cats, there are flying women, yes , they are called sorceresses, and not only in Salem.
Grand they do not fly by themselves, they must have a very special sort of broom or a twitching nose.
Thousands of testimonies about that in old grimoires and in Inquisition's files.
- "The white godess" and "Greek myths" by Robert Graves demonstrate well that behind myths ( a much heavier caliber thing than legend, agreed!) are facts about civilisation.
- In old Europe we do know that flying cats were a reality! and that it had something to do with ropes.
They were the first ( with some other animals) bacteriological warfare weapons.
Dead cats, we are civilized down, and humans corpses ( too much civilization hinder) here on the other side of the pond, were sent flying above the walls of fortified town and castles, by mean of siege machines and whathaveyou other contraptions with ropes.
Common knownledge have it that there are all sorts of things that have flight capability : saucers, ...err no - here I must stay proper and polite,pigs, ideas...(about flying things, a bit of an Audiard's cinema dialogue : the day idiots will fly, you will be squadron leader..That sure is astopper)
So were is the wonder of flying cats? I ask you. Please be grown up.
Ï state here, with positive academic certainity, me from a world with so much history ( quite a notch above having stories! ? :-) ):
- at work here are ancestral collective memories rising again that make your urban legend, at least those about flying cat. For others I am not so sure.
The point to explore is did all this happened only to black cats, reputed to be familiars of sorcereress, or to cat of all ilk and colo(u)rs ? Very serious tip for research I am giving you here, all free of charge.
More, there are flying bats, ( some in my belfry ?, agreed), sort of glorified flying mouses, yes, yes, they are,
So in an ordered world there must be flying cats somewhere, to make it balanced ( much in nead of balance we are!)
End of admonishment. And as of now behave!
Anonymity for knots's origins, well seeing that most are from maritime origine, at least that is what is attributed to many, it goes well with the anonymity of the sailors or captains cited in traditional sailors's songs from the tall ships days.
Nice looping back to knots if only peripherically, you will note.
Hope it is not a sliding loop aka a noose around my favored neck, mine.
Songs do not remember if is was John, Mizen topman, or John, foresail topman who did the song, probably not even sure it is a John, but sure the thing happenned to somebody! or ist is at least "vraisemblable" (possible). And that is the main thing.
That is the surviving fittest of some Maritime Legend, and in a century or so it will be interesting to see what Urban Legend, about knots or cats are the survivors. So they can be "historical" facts of sorts when they survive.
Urban Legend may be are like wines : good gets better and not so good makes for vinegar or worse and get poured in the gutter.
Jokes, Urban Legends, not so sure, that is the epiphenomena, that must rest on a much deeper trait of the human mind, and a need deeply seated.
Just as having names for things is a deeply seated need.
Sure it is quite improbable ( but probability does not equal zero so not impossible, at least in theory, for some knot(s) ).
But I hope that we can try, by historical research, to get at the sedimentation of names in the run of time. Not an urgent and vital task, for sure.
Amicalement.
Charles /Nautilus
PS hope I did not fouled too much the topic's leadline ?
PPS : certify not having been under the influence of any mind bending toxic while writing, just a perfectly natural state. Be kind and compassionate.
