Throw the cat among the pigeons

Throwing (also putting and setting) the cat among the pigeons is a British idiom used to describe a disturbance caused by an undesirable person from the perspective of a group.

Another use of the term is to "cause an enormous fight or flap, usually by revealing a controversial fact or secret", or in other words: to do something suddenly or unexpectedly which leaves the people worried or angry.^[1][2]

History and usage

The phrase originally referred to the disturbance likely to be created by putting a cat inside a dovecote (or dove house).^[3] This disturbance is caused by the cat's tendency to hunt and kill the birds, only made easier by their close proximity.^[4]

Similarity in other languages and cultures

Whilst being similar to other idioms such as the German-language phrase das fünfte Rad am Wagen (the fifth wheel on the car), in this case there is an element of aggression, and a power differential becomes the key element in the undesirability.^[5] The Spanish-language version of the phrase is alborotar a todo el palomar.^[2] In Russian, there is a proverb similar in meaning "пустить козла в огород" (let a goat into the garden).

In colonial India, a popular pastime was to put a wild cat in a pen with pigeons. Bets would be made on how many birds the cat would bring down with one paw-swipe. The period of the British colonisation of India may have introduced this concept, and hence the phrase to the English language.^[6]

In popular culture

Cat Among the Pigeons (1959) is the title of a detective-fiction novel by English writer Agatha Christie.

See also

• List of idioms in the English language

References