this was invented at london club called the cat whiskers
The Cat's Whisker It saw the invention of a new style of 'dancing' known as hand-jive, dancing using hand gestures only as there was no space to maneuver in the crowded basement.[2] The hand-jive (updated with feet movements) featured in the 1978 film Grease.[3]
Letting the cat out of the bag The derivation of the phrase is not clear. One suggestion is that the phrase refers to the whip-like "cat o'nine tails", an instrument of punishment once used on Royal Navy vessels. The instrument was purportedly stored in a red sack, and a sailor who revealed the transgressions of another would be "letting the cat out of the bag".[1] Another suggested derivation is from the "pig in a poke" scam, where a customer buying a suckling pig in a sack would actually be sold a (less valuable) cat, and would not realise the deception until the bag was opened.[1] Johannes Agricola made reference to the expression "let the cat out of the bag" in a letter to Martin Luther on 4 May 1530 as referenced in Lyndal Roper's 2016 biography about MartÃ­n Luther.