Good morning everyone!
Here I am with another mystery (to me): "to cudgel the Coates" to someone.

It appears to be an old expression for which I find no trace at all in our electronic Pythonesses. I've come across it in an argument between a tenant and a royal English commissioner sent to Virginia in 1620s. The episode is worth citing:

Quote :

An altercation [ocurred] […] between tenant William Moch (variously spelled) and John Harvey, later to be governor, who was sent by the king and Privy Council to conduct an inquiry into Virginia affairs in 1624–25. Harvey summoned Moch and demanded to see his covenant papers, that is, the agreement under which Moch had been engaged as a tenant. The court minutes continue:

"To which he [Moch] replyed, first lett me see my Corne[.] Capt. Harvey told him he scorned to keep back his Corne, Mutch replyed againe he would have his corne before he should see them. Then Capt. Harvey told him he was an idle knave, and that he could find in his heart to Cudgell his Coate. To which Mutch answered scornefully, alas Sir it is not in you."

I guess it is something aking to "beat someone" (hit his cloak, so to say), for which I'll have a good equivalence in Spanish, but in order not to have mine pounded I'll be glad to make sure I've got it right.

Thanks for your help, mates. It's always a pleasure.   

CM

I've never encountered the expression and can't find anything either, other than the usual 'take up cudgels' etc, but I understand it exactly as you have, as in something along the lines of, Captain Harvey contemptuously saying to Moch that he would not have the courage to strike back.

Hi Meles meles,
That's good to know. It's probably related, as an image, to the practice of beating a carpet with, well, a carpetbeater… Something still done not so long ago in deep meseta villages of Spain, France and probably many other places in Europe.
I think it must be correct.

Thanks again. I wish I had time to dig deep in these old expressions. There's a good part of history embedded in words…

Take care.

Yes indeed, especially if you consider how quickly modern words and expressions arise - minging, chav, frit, woke, face-nappy etc - and then as rapidly disappear from use.

Absolutely!

"Woke" has made it to New Zealand but "chav" never did. We were in Britain in 2010 or thereabouts and people talked about chav names. I found it a bit offensive coming from egalitarian NZ, where we tend to be careful about categorising people like that in case it conjures up images of poverty-stricken Maori. Though with a great interest in first names, stemming from my childhood, I do find some of the modern names rather hard to deal with. In NZ there are certain names not allowed which I gather is not the case in Britain - no titles (ie King, Justice, even Queenie)  or gods (though prophets are allowed), no Lucifers or Devils or Demons, or what one family wanted to call their daughter, Tallulah Does the Hula. I think registrars can veto names if they are too outlandish.
I don't seem to know what "face-nappy" means.

Face nappy is a mocking name for an anti-covid face mask, especially where wearing them is mandatory and seen as ineffective or an infringement of rights, thus it did not really exist, anywhere, before Spring 2020.