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Thread: How many different ways are there to skin a cat and what are they?

  1. #1
    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    Default How many different ways are there to skin a cat and what are they?

    Title says it all.

  2. #2
    aka ivan the not-quite-as-terrible ivan astikov's avatar
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    And what was the person thinking when he decided to find out?
    To sleep, perchance to experience amygdalocortical activation and prefrontal deactivation.

  3. #3
    Oliphaunt Baldwin's avatar
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    I've read that the original saying referred to catfish. Still don't know the answer, though. A minimum of two, I guess.

  4. #4
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    There's only one basic method of skinning a small furry animal, AFAIK.

    You use a knife, obviously. You cut off the head and feet, then get under the skin at the neck and work your way down to the animal's groin carefully. Some hunting knives have a "gut hook" on them for doing this so that you don't accidentally catch any internal organs, which will taint the meat. Otherwise, you've got to be pretty careful. You'll cut around the anus, not into it, then carefully peel off the skin like you're removing a jacket.

    While I've heard a lot of jokes about different ways of skinning and I suppose in theory you could dump an animal in a bot of boiling water to make the skin loosen in the same way you do with tomatoes before processing them, "cutting it off" is pretty much the only way anyone uses.

    Now, despite that, I see no reason why it can't actually refer to skinning cats, considering the meaning of the phrase is that there's more than one way to accomplish a goal. It's taking a very simple situation which has only one commonly accepted method and claiming that there are more methods available. It's usually used in a situation where you're looking for an unusual way to solve a problem when the accepted or direct method has failed, after all. Claiming that there's more than one way to skin a cat--when nobody can think of a second way--is a way of saying, "That wasn't the only way to solve your problem, even if it's the only way you can see. Find another way."

  5. #5
    aka ivan the not-quite-as-terrible ivan astikov's avatar
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    Let's skin a ferret instead!
    To sleep, perchance to experience amygdalocortical activation and prefrontal deactivation.

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