KILKENNY CATS

About:

• The expression to "fight like a Kilkenny cat" – which has come to mean a fight leading to an assured mutual death – refers to an old story about two cats who fought to the death and ate each other up such that only their tails were left.
  
  
• The origin of self-destructive cat fights was probably in an allegory to power and excess.
  
  
• Background:
  • The expression refers to cats supposedly fighting in a mediaeval town of Ireland.
    
    
  • In mediaeval Irish lore, massive burrow-dwelling cats —Banghaisgidheach — ruled the Kilkenny region. Having fought and killed Luchtigern, the local mouse chieftain and his army, the monsters ended up fighting each other until there were none.
    
    
  • Over time, the thoughtless Irish cats entered popular culture and were mentioned by the likes of General Ulysses S Grant (later twice elected President) during the American civil war and Mark Twain in his writings.