Steven Connor characterises the story as an Irish bull. The earliest attested version of the story is from June 1807, in Anthologia, a collection of jokes and humorous pieces copied by "W.T." of Inner Temple from unnamed previous publications. Nevertheless, theories have been offered seeking a historical basis for the story's setting. The original story is attested from 1807 as a simple joke or Irish bull some early versions are set elsewhere than Kilkenny. In the later twentieth century the motif was reclaimed by Kilkenny people as a positive symbol of tenacity and fighting spirit, and "the Cats" is the county nickname for the Kilkenny hurling team. Kilkenny cat is also used more generally for a fierce fighter or quarrelsome person. In the nineteenth century the Kilkenny cats were a common simile for any conflict likely to ruin both combatants. Often the absurd implication is that they have eaten each other. The Kilkenny cats are a fabled pair of cats from County Kilkenny (or Kilkenny city in particular) in Ireland, who fought each other so ferociously that only their tails remained at the end of the battle.
"The Eastern Kilkennies - may the knot hold": Puck (1904) hopes the Russo-Japanese War in Manchuria will debilitate both Japan and Russia
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