Yes, I guess that would be a good analogy...but I always saw it more as a crude [but impressive] form of chivalry.
:)
"...no "written" code ever actually existed. However, the hardy pioneers who lived in the west were bound by these unwritten rules that centered on hospitality, fair play, loyalty, and respect for the land."The modern day "hog" man might play hard and have a distinctly libertarian view of social norms but when it comes to matters of honor and country, they're rock solid (with exceptions, I'm sure)."Though the cowman might break every law of the territory, state and federal government, he took pride in upholding his own unwritten code. His failure to abide by it did not bring formal punishment, but the man who broke it became, more or less, a social outcast. His friends ‘hazed him into the cutbacks’ and he was subject to the punishment of the very code he had broken."