Securing a barge with a cleat hitch - GIF

[mklotz]

Is it possible that the design of cleats evolved from the fact that that shape makes possible exactly what he's doing?

I can remember my first time assisting in the docking of my uncle-in-law's sailboat. I looked at the cleat and did what he's doing, whipping the line and catching it alternately on the horns of the cleat. It seemed so obvious to me that I was sure it had been designed to be used that way.