What have we stopped noticing?
The things we say, do, and accept without thinking twice.
Look closer where it comes from, what it assumes, and the case for keeping it
What you mean by it
There are several ways to achieve the same thing.
What it's actually picturing
Flexibility is illustrated with the skinning of a cat.
What it takes for granted
An animal's body is an ordinary prop for a point about problem-solving.
Worth knowing
Most people who stop to picture it are surprised they ever said it.
The case for keeping it
It first appears in 1840s American humor, alongside sibling sayings about cats and cream. It reads as deliberate comic exaggeration, though nobody recorded why a cat.
Say it plainly
More than one way to do it
Or have some fun
More than one way to peel a potato
Where this comes from
- There is more than one way to skin a cat · The Phrase Finder