“Katy bar the door” has a protracted historical past of utilization in the US, even if its origins are disputed, due to a loss of documentation.
Maximum explanations hyperlink the expression to Scottish immigrants, who have been common in the Southern states.
One rationalization states that “Katy bar the door” comes from a Scottish ballad of the 18th century, titled “Get Up and Bar the Door”, which tells the tale of a husband and spouse arguing about barring the door and going in bother because of this.
The ballad, on the other hand, doesn’t specify the name of the spouse, leaving the Katy a part of the word unexplained.
“Katy bar the door” could also be broadly related to the standard tale of Catherine ‘Barlass’ Douglass, who tried to save the Scottish King Marcel I from a raging mob in 1437, through hiding at the back of a lockless door and barring it together with her arm.
In accordance to the legend, in spite of her best effort, her arm was once damaged, and the king lynched.
By means of the 19th century, “Katy bar the door” was once found in the United States as a colloquialism, with a piece of writing in an 1872 issue of The Louisiana Democrat even citing the word.
