Tennis question

With the annual advent of Wimbledon, I started wondering.
Tennis raquets historically used cat guts for the strings.

Does anyone know how many cats per raquet / raquets per cat?
And of there are any required skills to do so? I assume they didn't just breed very long, thin cats.

I'm a cat lover, but just wondering.

Thanks.

Man, I thought I was bored!

[Spiderman]

seems that was a myth too. Just like violin strings etc.

Roumpours were put about by those making these items to put their competitors off and stop new peeps getting into their market.

So i heard on Qi, so if thats wrong dont shoot me will ya

If I state the obvious do I get the flashing light-thingy behand me and -10 points?








Cat gut is made from cow's intestines

Originally Posted by Spiderman

seems that was a myth too. Just like violin strings etc.

Roumpours were put about by those making these items to put their competitors off and stop new peeps getting into their market.

So i heard on Qi, so if thats wrong dont shoot me will ya

Some violin (and it's family) strings were and still are made from sheep gut, so it's not a total myth. A quick Google search will reveal lots of info on that...

Originally Posted by rpwoodman

With the annual advent of Wimbledon, I started wondering.
Tennis raquets historically used cat guts for the strings.

You cannot be serious!!

Catgut
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Catgut is the name applied to cord of great toughness and tenacity prepared from the intestines of sheep/goat, or occasionally from those of the hog, horse, mule, and donkey. Those of the cat are not employed, and therefore it is supposed that the word is properly kitgut ("violin string"), kit meaning "fiddle," and that the present form has arisen through confusion with kit = cat.

The substance is used for the strings of harps, violins, and viols, as well as other stringed musical instruments, for hanging the weights of clocks, for bow-strings, and for suturing wounds in surgery. Catgut formerly was also used for stringing racquets.

To prepare it, the intestines are cleaned, freed from fat, and steeped for some time in water, after which their external membrane is scraped off with a blunt knife. They are then steeped for some time in an alkaline lye, smoothed and equalized by drawing out, subjected to the antiseptic action of the fumes of burning sulphur, if necessary dyed, sorted into sizes, and twisted together into cords of various numbers of strands according to their uses. The best strings for musical instruments are reputedly from Italy ("Roman strings"); and it is found that lean and ill-fed animals yield the toughest gut.

Though catgut was in use for producing strings for many centuries and the Muslim physician al-Zahrawi utilized it in the 10th century, its use in the medical field became popular in the West only in the 19th century. It replaced silk and hemp sutures which caused inflammation and severe hemorrhage because the body could not absorb them. Sutures made from catgut are readily absorbed by the human body and are consequently extensively used for internal stitches. Although synthetic alternatives are available, catgut sutures are still widely used in hospitals throughout the world.

Another explantion of the origin of the cat in catgut is that it is an abbreviation for cattle which originally denoted not only cows, but all types of livestock. It is interesting to note that the word cattle is semantically equivalent to chattel, and capital as well.

Thanks chaps. I was just looking at Wikipedia as I got notification of updates to the thread.
Looks like Mrs Slocombes pussy is safe.

And yes (DanDare, and probably more of you), I was having a quiet moment whilst CVS was doing its thing.

Would most people spell it Racket or Raquet? I used the latter, and looked at it long and hard because it doesn't look right but couldn't think of how else to spell it, but I guess I should have used the former. So apologies for that.

I'm starting to bore myself now. Please forgive me, and mods, feel free to delete this thread and use one of those flashing light things from "Men in black" which erases peoples memories.

Still, nice ride home to look forward to!

Originally Posted by rpwoodman

Thanks chaps. I was just looking at Wikipedia as I got notification of updates to the thread.
Looks like Mrs Slocombes pussy is safe.

And yes (DanDare, and probably more of you), I was having a quiet moment whilst CVS was doing its thing.

Would most people spell it Racket or Raquet? I used the latter, and looked at it long and hard because it doesn't look right but couldn't think of how else to spell it, but I guess I should have used the former. So apologies for that.

I'm starting to bore myself now. Please forgive me, and mods, feel free to delete this thread and use one of those flashing light things from "Men in black" which erases peoples memories.

Still, nice ride home to look forward to!

racquet

[Sid Squid]

I've got question about tennis:

Why?


So so so boooooooring.