# What is, or was, a "cathole"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455 "2016-08-11T15:57:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/21 "2016-08-11T21:48:43Z")
I found this in a golf glossary: cathole Localism used by early settlers in southern Michigan for very small (usually less than an acre) shallow depression or hole; presumably originated from the characteristic aquatic plant, the cattail, or perhaps the presence of catfish, which cropped up in such holes; the term came to be applied loosely to any shallow and boggy low area or a pond connected to a stream or swamp [http://www.golfgroupltd.com/golf\_course\_terms.html#c](http://www.golfgroupltd.com/golf_course_terms.html#c) It also looks Gaelic to me, which would be fun. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/22 "2016-08-11T21:56:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > While googling cattle road, I found the [best roadsign ever](http://images.roadtrafficsigns.com/img/lg/K/caution-falling-cows-road-sign-k-9916.gif). Though, as the Top Gear guys noted, when you see a “things may fall on you with no warning” sign, what exactly are you supposed to do? Speed up? Slow down? What? How does this sign actually help? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/23 "2016-08-11T22:02:12Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/24 "2016-08-11T22:02:51Z")
It’s not a warning that things will fall ON you (odds of that are slim) but that something that previously fell onto the road ahead may be a danger, so pay extra attention in that area. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/25 "2016-08-11T22:23:59Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 😕 “gats”? I may have gotten this term from a close friend of mine, who was born German, but raised in South Africa. _Gat_ denotes a gap, cut out in a log or board, to allow water or air to flow freely. There are cognates in several Germanic languages, like the Dutch _gat_ = “hole”; or the Swedish -_gatt_ in **[Kattegatt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kattegat)**. I think it should be accepted as a word in standard English. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/26 "2016-08-11T22:32:10Z")
In English a gat is what I use to pop caps in suckas. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/27 "2016-08-11T22:34:31Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > I may have gotten this term from a close friend of mine, who was born German, but raised in South Africa. _Gat_ denotes a gap, cut out in a log or board, to allow water or air to flow freely. There are cognates in several Germanic languages, like the Dutch _gat_ = “hole”; or the Swedish -_gatt_ in **[Kattegatt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kattegat)**. I think it should be accepted as a word in standard English. Well, it is, but when I see the word word “gat,” I think of a gangster wielding a pistol on “The Untouchables.” ---
**Author:** ![Anarcho\_Liberalist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Anarcho\_Liberalist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anarcho_Liberalist)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/28 "2016-08-11T22:38:37Z")
Ok. There are apparently several plausible theories for the etymology of cathole as a gegraphic or street name. Maybe you should contact the historical society in one of the villages. If you really, REALLY want to know that is ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/29 "2016-08-12T00:48:32Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > In English a gat is what I use to pop caps in suckas. Naw, in real English, you’d use your Bren gun… ---
**Author:** ![Verily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e9a140/32.png) [@Verily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Verily)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/30 "2016-08-12T01:29:18Z")
The human brain is a strange thing. Despite the fact that “cat” and “hole” are both words in and of themselves, my brain did not parse it as “cat-hole”, but rather as “caþole”, like it was a corruption of “Catholic” or a misspelling of “cathode”. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Though, as the Top Gear guys noted, when you see a “things may fall on you with no warning” sign, what exactly are you supposed to do? Speed up? Slow down? What? How does this sign actually help? The Imponderables books covered this a long time ago. It’s actually a warning to be careful about things that have already fallen on the road rather than warning that something may fall on you. I seem to recall that there was at least one state–was it New York?–where the road signs actually say “Watch for fallen rocks”, which is both shorter and more precise. It’s possible I’m misremembering that, since I haven’t re-read any of those books since the early '90s, when I was an adolescent. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/31 "2016-08-12T01:34:39Z")
> [@Verily](#): > > . I seem to recall that there was at least one state–was it New York?–where the road signs actually say “Watch for fallen rocks”, which is both shorter and more precise. Yes, the signs used to say that. There was joke about it that is so old and tired even I won’t tell it. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/32 "2016-08-12T01:58:45Z")
In the opening paragraphs of Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery is the following passage: > [@](#): > > The cabin was without glass windows; it had only openings in the side which let in the light, and also the cold, chilly air of winter. There was a door to the cabin - that is, something that was called a door - but the uncertain hinges by which it was hung, and the large cracks in it, to say nothing of the fact that it was too small, made the room a very uncomfortable one. In addition to these openings there was, in the lower right-hand corner of the room, the “ **cat-hole** ,” - a contrivance which almost every mansion or cabin in Virginia possessed during the ante-bellum period. The “ **cat-hole** ” was a square opening, about seven by eight inches, provided for the purpose of letting the cat pass in and out of the house at will during the night. While the use of cat hole to indicate a hawse pipe is attractive to me, the location of the road many miles from Portsmouth or Gloucester argues against that derivation. On the other hand, it seems quite likely that the maritime reference could easily have been taken from the usage to which Washington alludes, The only problem being that it seems extremely unlikely that folks in the winters of New Hampshire would have provided their houses with anything similar. One possibility: an immigrant from Virginia or a retired seafarer might well have named the road for a local feature, (cave? covered bridge?), with a small, square opening (Virginian) or round opening (mariner) that reminded him of a cat hole. Obviously a WAG. I suggest a trip to the local library to look for books written of the history of various counties–a popular pastime in the late 19th century. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/33 "2016-08-12T02:02:18Z")
It is interesting that Wiktionary specifies that the hawse pipes so named were specifically for those at the stern, providing an association (however coincidental) with the poop deck. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/34 "2016-08-12T07:19:52Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > I don’t know about the origin of the English term; but in Sweden _katthål_ = lit. “cat hole” refers to the gats made in the bottoms of buildings (and sometimes in the doors of barns) primarily to provide ventilation, but which also make a very convenient way for cats to sneak in and out on their way to find prey or seek shelter. > [katthål bilder - Google Search](https://www.google.se/search?q=katth%C3%A5l+bilder&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj6xcer97nOAhWE1iwKHWlKCT4QsAQIGg#imgrc=i2pxwlajraEAqM%3A) Similarly, in Spanish, _puerta gatera_ or _gatera_ is the little flap-covered square cut at the bottom of a gate or door to let the cat through. _Gatera_ eventually also came to mean those little slits or flaps at the bottom of some types of clothing: I most often see them in pencil skirts, but didn’t those elephant-leg pants also have them some times? Warning: [cats and dogs](https://www.google.es/search?q=gatera&espv=2&biw=979&bih=581&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjdrZXkq7vOAhUBjxQKHZnwCUQQ_AUIBigB). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/35 "2016-08-12T07:41:24Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Well, it is, but when I see the word word “gat,” I think of a gangster wielding a pistol on “The Untouchables.” Different g-sound. This one is a voiceless uvular fricative (χ [in IPA](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19542945) 😃 ) somewhat similar to the German -ch (in Ba_ch_ or A_ch_tung!). ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/36 "2016-08-12T14:27:21Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > It could refer to a cat’s den - mountain lions did range here in colonial times. In a book about the town of Berlin, Connecticut, the author says a local wilds/ mountain area was called the cathole, because it was a hole (the wild area between two hills or ranges , eg as a road cut across a gully … btw I see cathole road has a such a U bend obviously showing the terrain has a gully… ) and because of the cats there. See > **[Berlin](https://books.google.com.au/books?id=4BX_U-BetesC&pg=PT121&lpg=PT121&dq=cathole%2Broad&source=bl&ots=pjkhwAsqF6&sig=13LyzuDaLXxFjzKaJIYVexDZLNg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiuu9y4ibzOAhUEmZQKHXMhDhE4ChDoAQgvMAQ#v=onepage&q=cathole%20road&f=false)** > > Located in the geographical center of the state, Berlin is best known as the Home of the Yankee Peddler. The first white settler, John Beckley, arrived in 1650, followed by a few families from Farmington in the late 1600s. Initially, Berlin was both... ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/37 "2016-08-12T14:32:55Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Different g-sound. This one is a voiceless uvular fricative (χ [in IPA](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19542945) 😃 ) somewhat similar to the German -ch (in Ba_ch_ or A_ch_tung!). Definitely not a standard English word! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/38 "2016-08-12T14:42:07Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > In a book about the town of Berlin, Connecticut, > the author says a local wilds/ mountain area was called the cathole, because it was a hole (the wild area between two hills or ranges , eg as a road cut across a gully … btw I see cathole road has a such a U bend obviously showing the terrain has a gully… ) This is pulling into the lead as a reasonable explanation. There are multiple books written about the history of the area, but all either decline to comment or say the term is of undetermined origin. Either a (now-lost) feature that looked like a sailor’s cathole, or a “hole” or “holler” where cats lived… I’d put a 99% bet on that pair. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/39 "2016-08-12T14:47:35Z")
The only place I have ever seen the word ‘gat’ used before was in a comic book. Not sure which one, but it was DC back in the '70s. The word was used in some missive that was a clue to [whatever was going on]. I do remember the characters asking, “What’s a gat?” and having to look it up in an unabridged dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/40 "2016-08-12T15:31:32Z")
Now I’m a little leery of referring to the Historical Dictionary of American Slang, but it says “gat” is probably originally from “Gatling gun”. The first citation is from 1897 where it means simply “gun”. I believe it was fairly common in gangster stories and movies in the early to mid 20th century. –Mark [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455.md?page=3)