Off topic: Lard & cat's boil Thread poster: Valerijs Svincovs
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Hi everyone! Can anyone explain to me the meaning and origin of the phrase "putting lard on cat's boil"? As far as I understand, it is used as an excuse for not doing something, like in an example "Sorry for not shaking hands with you - I've been putting lard on cat's boil".
It comes up in Google, but there is no explanation.
Probably someone knows where it comes from, why is it exactly cat, does lard really cure boils, etc.
Thanks!!
V
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Don't really know apart for the fact that it comes from the Monty Python:(The North Minehead Bye-Election)...
| | | | | Monty Python's Flying Circus | Apr 28, 2009 |
I don't know whether you're familiar with Monty Python: it was a comedy series / team of comedians (John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam) from the late 60s and early 70s, which has been repeated about 10 zillion times because even 40 years later, it's still irresistably funny.
Anyway, th... See more I don't know whether you're familiar with Monty Python: it was a comedy series / team of comedians (John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam) from the late 60s and early 70s, which has been repeated about 10 zillion times because even 40 years later, it's still irresistably funny.
Anyway, this is a quote from episode 12:
http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode12.htm
It doesn't really mean anything, it's just a daft thing to say.
Monty Python have also made a few films: The Meaning of Life, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian (which was banned as blasphemous in a number of countries) and And now for Something Completely Different (collection of their most popular sketches). They're all widely available and well worth a look.
More information on Monty Python:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python
[Edited at 2009-04-28 17:58 GMT]
[Edited at 2009-04-28 17:58 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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My question arose exactly while watching the "Hitler in England" episode
So apparently, the episode itself is the source of all the other references.
Thanks Marie!
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| where it hurts | Apr 29, 2009 |
i guess the cat would lick the lard off which would make obvious where it hurts. This, i guess, is the moral of it though i didn’t see that particular episode.
i can’t believe it’s just a “my hands are dirty”.
[Edited at 2009-04-29 12:27 GMT]
| | | | Erik Freitag 
Germany
Local time: 19:21
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
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| Doesn't make sense | Apr 29, 2009 |
foghorn wrote:
i guess the cat would lick the lard off which would make obvious where it hurts.
Now, how is that supposed to make any sense? No, don't try to interpret too much into it -- it's Monty Python!
| | | | Neil Cross
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:21
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
+ ...
| Bouncy bouncy! | Apr 29, 2009 |
I don't know what you lot are on about - it's a perfectly common English expression, used almost as frequently as "my hovercraft is full of eels".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6D1YI-41ao
| | | | | mein English old chum! | Apr 29, 2009 |
I realise that this Monty Python's gem does not deserve such a trivial discussion, but would you mind to confirm that this phrase DOES originate from Monty Python?
Google has let me down in this case. And I cannot think of anything else for the last three days!:D
V
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Neil Cross
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:21
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
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valerius wrote:
I realise that this Monty Python's gem does not deserve such a trivial discussion, but would you mind to confirm that this phrase DOES originate from Monty Python?
Sorry squire, it's quite difficult to stay serious when discussing Monty Python. I am just a silly old leg-before-vicket English person.
Yes, to the best of my knowledge and belief, this phrase originated from the North Minehead by-election sketch.
Don't try putting lard on boils, feline or otherwise. It probably won't help...
N.
| | | | juvera
Local time: 18:21
English to Hungarian
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| Don't fret any more, here it is | Apr 30, 2009 |
valerius wrote:
I realise that this Monty Python's gem does not deserve such a trivial discussion, but would you mind to confirm that this phrase DOES originate from Monty Python?
Google has let me down in this case. And I cannot think of anything else for the last three days!:D
V
Cut to a small, tatty, little boarding house.
SUPERIMPOSED CAPTION: 'A SMALL BOARDING HOUSE IN MINEHEAD, SOMERSET'
Mr and Mrs Johnson, a typical holidaying bourgeois couple walk up to the front door and ring the bell. Inside the boarding house, the landlady goes up to the front door and opens it.
Landlady: Hello, Mr and Mrs Johnson?
Mr Johnson: That's right. Yes.
Landlady: Well come on in, excuse me not shaking hands, I've just been putting a bit of lard on the cat's boil.
Johnson: Very nice.
Landlady: Well you must be tired, it's a long way from Coventry, isn't it?
Johnson: Well, we usually reckon on five and a half hours and it took us six hours and fifty-three minutes, with the twenty-five minute stop at Frampton...
http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode12.htm#5
The Minehead by-election
As often is the case with Monty Python's, poking fun of people talking and not listening, and the Pythons' obsession with the idiosyncrasies of boarding houses and their owners. 
[Edited at 2009-04-30 15:18 GMT]
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[deleted]
[Edited at 2009-04-30 16:43 GMT]
| | | | | here it is, guys, the "landlady" meant it literally :) | Nov 5, 2014 |
"A boil or 'Furuncle' is actually a pocket of pus, filled with bacteria or foreign matter under the skin surface. Cats generally get these localized bacterial skin infections in bite and claw wounds during fights. Even though a bite/wound might not leave any puncture on the skin; but it might lead to the development of painful boils underneath the skin surface. Boils on skin generally starts as a tender lump, and then eventually reddens and gets swollen with 'pus'. Sometimes, the pus might get d... See more "A boil or 'Furuncle' is actually a pocket of pus, filled with bacteria or foreign matter under the skin surface. Cats generally get these localized bacterial skin infections in bite and claw wounds during fights. Even though a bite/wound might not leave any puncture on the skin; but it might lead to the development of painful boils underneath the skin surface. Boils on skin generally starts as a tender lump, and then eventually reddens and gets swollen with 'pus'. Sometimes, the pus might get drained on its own. If not; lancing the boils by a veterinarian becomes necessary. Read to know what causes boils in cats, and how to deal with boils with available home remedies. "
Source:
http://pets.iloveindia.com/cats/boils-on-cats.html
(2nd page in google search results)
cheers
[Edited at 2014-11-05 12:20 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Kay Denney
France
Local time: 19:21
French to English
| licking wounds | Nov 6, 2014 |
I think it would make perfect sense to put lard on the boil, then the cat will lick it, and we all know that licking wounds is the best way to heal them.
Which doesn't make it any less funny: it really is TMI in this sort of situation and it makes you wonder whether she would wash her hands before doing anything else, and the absence of reaction from the guests is pretty zany too: idiot Brits taking stuff in their stride with a stiff upper lip and all that.
Dead parrot... See more I think it would make perfect sense to put lard on the boil, then the cat will lick it, and we all know that licking wounds is the best way to heal them.
Which doesn't make it any less funny: it really is TMI in this sort of situation and it makes you wonder whether she would wash her hands before doing anything else, and the absence of reaction from the guests is pretty zany too: idiot Brits taking stuff in their stride with a stiff upper lip and all that.
Dead parrot anyone? ▲ Collapse
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