# skinnin' cats **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2001, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636 "2001-09-25T05:03:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![portajon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@portajon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/portajon)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/1 "2001-09-25T05:03:46Z")
The phrase “there is more than one way to skin a cat” is attributed to Mark Twain, the name of a childrens game, and Richard Bach uses it as reference to repair of Caterpillar bulldozers in “Illusions”…whats the real straight dope? ---
**Author:** ![Justin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ab097/32.png) [@Justin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/2 "2001-09-25T05:17:18Z")
skinnin cats…thats an easy one. Catfish (cats) must be skinned before you can cook and eat them. Catfish have a slimy skin instead of scales…trust me, you DONT want to eat it. Yes, there is more than one way to skin them. Most methods, however, involve a pair or pliers or special cat-skinning pliers sold at most sporting goods stores. I think old mister twain probably picked this one up from from some fisherman teaching his son what to do to a catfish. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/3 "2001-09-25T05:18:32Z")
…while searching for the origins I came across this in _Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang_: **to skin the cat** _phr_ [19C+] to have sexual intercourse. ---
**Author:** ![portajon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@portajon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/portajon)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/4 "2001-09-25T05:27:34Z")
Justin, I generally drive a 20 penny nail through the cats head into the cleaning table and proceed to strip the skin away with a pair of needle nose pliers as suggested but the phrase does not appear to have its origins there. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/5 "2001-09-25T05:42:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nostradamus \* > **to skin the cat** _phr_ [19C+] to have sexual intercourse. Are you suggesting that **there is more than one way to have sexual intercourse**? ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/6 "2001-09-25T06:07:33Z")
**kniz** , this is General Questions. In this forum it is just not done to mislead people by implying something which cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be possible. Reading my earlier post I now believe that it is capable of misinterpretation so, for the avoidance of doubt, I state categorically and unequivocally that _there is not more than one way to have sexual intercourse_. Sorry, no cite. ---
**Author:** ![Corrvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@Corrvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corrvin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/7 "2001-09-25T06:42:22Z")
Nostradamus, since we are supposed to be here _fighting ignorance_, I must insist that you reword your post. There is no possible way to have sex. No one, anywhere, is having sex at all. It is all a myth, urban legend, hoax, and fairy tale. I’m shocked at you for misleading kniz in such a cruel way. Corr (after all, if I’m not getting any…) ---
**Author:** ![portajon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@portajon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/portajon)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/8 "2001-09-25T06:50:46Z")
I don’t think “to skin the cat” and “there is more than one way to skin a cat” are used in the same context. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/9 "2001-09-25T06:52:01Z")
Having now been exposed as a sexual charlatan by **Corrvin** , I must come clean. I am ashamed. It was a friend who told me about ‘sex’. A friend who I trusted. A person I relied upon to tell me the truth in all matters. I now see clearly that he was lying all along, and I give a solemn undertaking never to spread unsubstantiated rumours in this forum ever again. Please forgive me, I was just trying to impress everybody. ---
**Author:** ![Corrvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@Corrvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corrvin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/10 "2001-09-25T08:12:29Z")
Good thing there isn’t any such thing as sex. After exposing **Nostradamus** , and having him come clean in front of all of us, I’m really glad I don’t have to fear angry retaliation from the **Nostradame**. Corr, who had to think up some way to use that terrible pun ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/11 "2001-09-25T08:14:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Corrvin \* > \*\*Nostradamus, since we are supposed to be here _fighting ignorance_, I must insist that you reword your post. > > There is no possible way to have sex. No one, anywhere, is having sex at all. It is all a myth, urban legend, hoax, and fairy tale. I’m shocked at you for misleading kniz in such a cruel way. > > Corr (after all, if I’m not getting any…) \*\* [**Dale the Bold**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=88501) will be relieved to know this. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/12 "2001-09-25T10:05:11Z")
Back to the **OP** : > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by portajon \* > \*\*The phrase “there is more than one way to skin a cat” is attributed to Mark Twain, the name of a childrens game, and Richard Bach uses it as reference to repair of Caterpillar bulldozers in “Illusions”…whats the real straight dope? \*\* When it comes to etymology the straight dope comes from World Wide Words He addresses the issue, and answers: > [@](#): > > To a lexicographer, all phrases are interesting, it’s just that some of them are more interesting than others … There are several versions of this saying. Charles Kingsley used the older British form in Westward Ho! in 1855: “there are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream”, meaning that there are good ways of doing something, and then there are foolish ways, one of the latter being to give a cat cream in the hope of killing it. Mark Twain used your version in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court in 1889: “she was wise, subtle, and knew more than one way to skin a cat”, that is, more than one way to get what she wanted. The latter version seems to have nothing to do with the American English term to skin a cat, which is to perform a type of gymnastic exercise. [side note] Could that _“to perform a type of gymnastic exercise”_ have domething to do with that sex thing hinted at by several posters? [/side note] ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skinnin-cats/83636/13 "2001-09-25T10:08:04Z")
oops! Screwed up the url. The WorldWideWords homepage is [here](http://www.worldwidewords.org), and the article quoted from is [here](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mor1.htm)