Okay. Another question. What is the "nine horse hitch?&

[TexasWilder]

In FOH, Siuan, Min, Logain, and Leane are in Lugard, and, to quote,

At last, on a side street just as wide as the main, just beyond a gateless opening in one of the callopsing inner walls, she found the inn she wanted, three stories of rough gray stonetopped with purp[le roof tiles. The sign over the door had an improbably voluptous woman wearing only her hair, arranged to hide as little as possible, astride a barebacked horse, and a name that she skipped over as soon as she recognized it.

 

Then later...

 

"What is a nine horse hitch anyway?" she [Min] asked, getting to her feet...

"In this town," Siuan said primly, "it is better not to ask."

 

well I'm not in that town and I'm asking!

[Luckers]

I'm not certain, but there was an execution practise in which a man was hitched to nine horses, two for each leg and arm, and one around the neck. The horses were then lit on fire and panicked, riding in different directions essentially ripping the man to pieces. It originated in France, i believe.

 

That being said, most of RJ's inn names actually mean nothing, they just sound like they mean something ('easing the badger?'), and that practise isn't very well known... i've encountered it in two sources to date, the diary of a french monk, and a commentry on animal husbandry. But still... its possible.

[dimmu666]

correction luckers, it orginated in China. They use 5 horses not 9 and it begun in the Han dynasty. 1 horse tied to each limb and the neck, the horses were made to panic as you said and then they would rip the dude apart. I think the chinese have the cruelest execution methods to date; e.g. death by a thousand cuts where literally the person is cut up bit by bit but not allowed to die (they stem the bleeding and cut another bit off) until reduced to a limbless thing where they will finally just die (from pain, last cut etc). Its sickkkk...

[Luckers]

Actually no, dimmu, i was speaking specifically of the french practise using nine horses, which is where i connected it from. As i pretty much stated.

[dimmu666]

yes specifically using 9 horses, you're probably right its French. But the idea orginated in China, would it be possible that the French came up with the same thing just modified? without Chinese influences? probably. But i do believe they took the idea from the Chinese thats why i'm saying it ultimately originated in China.

[Luckers]

Actually there is a sociological theory called divergeant social mimicry. Its not uncommon for seperate societies to come up with the same thoughts without any form of interaction. For instance the concept of elemental molecular structure and the table of elements appeared simultaneously in two different societies, without any connection. It happens incredibly frequetly. Another example is the ideological coincidentiatlity of the begining of new religious movements two thousand years ago.

 

Without evidence of a causal link from China, my training dictates that i conclude originality in France.

[TexasWilder]

Well that doesn't help me any.

I thought it was some wierd coital position or inference. :?

[Thor]

So what has that (the execution methods) got to do with the nearly naked woman?

 

And also, if you really want to know which is more likely to originate from the otherm, just go check up the dates when they were invented. Han dynasty is a bit old so I'll go with the Chinese.

 

But meh, if it was in the dark ages when France got the style, then it would ofcourse be the french first.

 

I wonder if the steppe tribes (eg mongols) had anything to do with it.

[mikey sedai]

please don't disappoint me- i can't be one of the few who thought it was a position used by middle aged swingers!

[TexasWilder]

please don't disappoint me- i can't be one of the few who thought it was a position used by middle aged swingers!

Well that is what I thought

[Cashew]

the naked woman was on the sign on the "good night's ride" inn

[Kadere]

I always figured it was something sexual which is why RJ kept saying you'll understand when you're older.

[rd2000]

The form of execution whereas someone is pulled apart by horses is officially called........drawn and quartered(although the term also refers to a few different forms of execution).

[TheDiceAgain...]

It was also called being "Scattered to the Four Winds" as well I believe. You're right that that was was called "drawn and quartered" although the most normally accepted version of "drawn and quartered" is close to what we see at the end of Braveheart. The condemned is stretched out with ropes or hung (the actual sentence was to be "hung, drawn and quartered") and then cut down. They then have their genitals cut off and are disemboweled. If they happen to still be alive (or even if not) they are then beheaded and their body is cut into quarters. Those English could get quite exotic couldn't they?

[Luckers]

Thats what i thought too... about being drawn and quartered.

 

Meh, it was just a thought because of the nine horses.

[Jonn]

Well, I can make a guess at the sexual connotation.

 

hitch

1. to become entangled or caught; to be linked or yoked; to unite; to cling. Atoms . . . Which at length hitched together. (South)

 

2. to move interruptedly or with halts, jerks, or steps; said of something obstructed or impeded. Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme. (Pope) To ease themselves . . . By hitching into another place. (Fuller)

 

3. to hit the legs together in going, as horses; to interfere.

 

Origin: cf. Scot. hitch a motion by a jerk, and hatch, hotch, to move by jerks, also Prov. g. Hiksen, g. Hinken, to limp, hobble; or E. Hiccough; or possibly akin to E. hook.

 

1. a catch; anything that holds, as a hook; an impediment; an obstacle; an entanglement.

 

2. The act of catching, as on a hook, etc.

 

3. a stop or sudden halt; a stoppage; an impediment; a temporary obstruction; an obstacle; as, a hitch in one's progress or utterance; a hitch in the performance.

 

4. a sudden movement or pull; a pull up; as, the sailor gave his trousers a hitch.

 

5. a knot or noose in a rope which can be readily undone; intended for a temporary fastening; as, a half hitch; a clove hitch; a timber hitch, etc.

 

Alright. My read on hitch in the term is one that can accomodate 9 horses, of course.

 

Often times a hitch, in regard to a horse is a length of wood or a hook or plank that can be used to tie a horse to.

 

So in one interpretation we're talking about a length of wood that can accomodate 9 horse reins to be tied to it. Takes a certain lengh of wood to manage that, I imagine.

 

Another interpretation involves knots. Often a hitch is in reference to the knot on the line that ties a horse to something solid for a time. A knot referred to as a hitch is often loose, as it is a temporary bind that keeps a horse in place. A 9 horse hitch can mean many things in this case. It could be a rather...tight hitch, one that can hold down 9 horses. Or it could be a reference to a hitch that is rather loose, a common one that has been used on 9 kinds or different horses. That's a loose interpretation on my part, but pardon me for having a dirty mind.

 

Another loose interpretation is the definition as a hitch being a motion or a jerking movement. When someone is driving a cart or a carriage with horses, they will use a hitch movement to keep the horses under control. If you want to get a horse moving faster, I imagine you'll need to give it a quick hitch or jerk on the reins. To get 9 horses moving, you'll probably have to be a bit more vigorous to get them moving, perhaps constantly jerking on the reins to control that many horses.

 

So there you are, straight from my dirty mind and the dictionary to your dirty minds. Several interpretations of the term "Nine Horse Hitch". Certainly from here you can come up with your own special interpretations. I humbly leave you to it.

 

*bows grandly with a flourish of his cape*

[mightisright]

Has anyone read RJ's Conan books? The disparity in blatant sexuality between the two is hilarious. Not that it doesn't make sense. It does obviously, two different worlds, one soley his, and one with a back story ect... Wot is very sly and prim for the most part. You can read between the lines but nothings hanging out. There are glimpses in it of RJ's sensual talent (spanking, spanking and more spanking) but I would have never suspect the same author spun out the overt eroticism found in his Conan novels.

 

Anyway the expression is an excellent example of the way RJ references but avoids, for the most part, darker sexual themes in WOT.

[Kara_J]

Horse Hitch actually refers to how many horses are hitched together to pull a carriage/sled, i.e: eight horse hitch means 8 horses pulling a carriage, so on and so forth.

[yolindamo]

Perhaps this is why Siuan said it was better not to ask. :oops:

[Thor]

Also, if you are drawing a carriage, you need even number horses.

 

Why nine?

[algspkr]

Just from the name I pictured something like a bike rack for horses, with room for nine of them. But in the context of the story it seems to be a sexual euphemism, as to what it is describing I have no idea, but all of the other imagry regaurding the inns in that chapter were obviously of this nature.

[Light Warrior]

Sometimes authors do this thing where they'll suggest something and leave the rest up to the reader's imagination, which can be infinitely more terrifying than anything the author might show explicitly.

[Thor]

The word terrifying made me chuckle. :lol:

[Luckers]

Actually you dont need an even number of horses when pulling a carraige. It depends entirely on the rig.

[bjclinton]

To answer the original post's question, I'm surprised that no one has posted what I always thought to be the obvious....

 

Based on the part of the city that this Inn is located (not a reputable one at all), and what the sign above the doorway suggests (sex) I assume that the "Nine Horse Hitch" is just a play on words, which really alludes to the "Nine Whores Hitch," indicating that the hotel was a brothel of some sort (or at the very least, offered the type of services that one such establishment would offer).

 

In any event, I think you can all use your imaginations as to what the implications of what 9 of them hitched up in a line could possibly mean. It would lend more credibility to someone's earlier mention that RJ is known for stronger sexual content and innuendos in his other books, and more importantly answer the question of why Miss Sanche didn’t want to explain the implications of the name due to the others not being of suitable age to hear her explanation.