# What is, or was, a "cathole"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455>\
**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:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**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, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/41 "2016-08-12T15:53:13Z")

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Leading, of course, to the Groucho Marx line when he found a .45 framed by two small derringers: “This gat has had gittens!”

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**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, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/42 "2016-08-12T17:07:21Z")

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In the comic book I mentioned, “gat” certainly referred to some kind of egress. That much I do recall. OED has this:  
_An opening between sandbanks; a channel; a strait_

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**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 13, 2016, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-or-was-a-cathole/762455/43 "2016-08-13T07:10:23Z")

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It might be of interest, then, that in Afrikaans, _gat_ just means hole and is used in non-slang speech all the time, but is also colloquially used to mean “arsehole”, as in the lovely expression _Jy gaan jou gat sien_ (You will see your own arsehole i.e. you are going to land in big trouble)

Also of note is that while _kat_ means “cat” in Dutch, it also was a technical term for a transverse wall in a fortification (e.g. [De Kat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_Good_Hope#cite_note-8)at the Castle of Good Hope) so a _Kattegat_ may also be an opening in such a wall.

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