Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayin
From: Flash Company
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 11:17 AM

We were always told 'There are more ways to kill a cat than choking it with butter!'
Anyone reckoned to be mean was 'Tighter than a duck's arse (and that's watertight!)
Complain that you had nowhere to sit and risk being told 'Stick your thumb in your bum and sit on your elbow!'
A frosty morning was 'Cold enough for a walking stick!'
And one farm labourer I knew would raise his 'lid of tea' and say:-
Here's to health, wealth and Freedom,
Them as never drinks tea, Buggerem, ne'er heed 'em!

FC

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: Louie Roy
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 10:40 AM

What boggles my mind is why we have a BS thread in the musical section

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayin
From: Newport Boy
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 09:05 AM

I think I've posted this before, but repetition never did any harm.

My father-in-law always said of any action that was ineffective:

"As much use as shouting 'shit' up a dark alley."

This came from Newport (S Wales) early 1920's.

Phil

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: Big Mick
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 06:56 AM

When he thougbt something was neat, an old buddy of mine used to say, "Well now, thats jest slicker'n hot chicken fat on a stuck doorknob".

I am not sure where it came from, but when asked how I'm doing, I usually reply that I am "just as fine as frog's hair". Think about it.

Mick

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayin
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 12:58 AM

Something worthless according to my father was 'not worth the full of your arse of roasted snow.'

Someone ungainly was 'as awkward as a pig going to hoke.'

Seamus

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayin
From: Rowan
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 11:39 PM

Q:
"Unwrap your rung!" meaning "Hurry up!" or "Get a move on!" I first heard as a phrase used by a family friend (Eileen Vaughan, née Cattanach and the mother of my first serious girlfriend) in Heidelberg (Melbourne) in the 50s. Eileen (now deceased) was brought up in the alpine parts of the NSW southern highlands in the 20s and 30s, so probably learned the saying in that context.

It was also used by Lorna Rosser (my first mother-in-law, who was a bit younger) in Moorooduc (Mornington Peninsula, south of Frankston, Victoria) in the 60s and 70s. Lorna was brought up (as I recall; we don't get on well) in Melbourne.

I can't give any earlier info on the saying, and I recall it being used by others, subsequently.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: Louie Roy
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 10:43 PM

A couple of others It's raining like a cow pissing ona flat rock and the old cars we ad to drive they were so rough the'd shake the balls off of a brass monkey

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayin
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 10:26 PM

Dearest...AZISI -

"Skinning the Cat" is also a term applied to duo and single gymnastics...and a multiple of school-yard-games dating back to at least 1900 and without reference...probably before.

However, it is my understanding, the SUBJECT of this thread is "Other Family Sayings" and Origins.

Return to back of the class.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: Louie Roy
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 10:09 PM

Busier than a cat covering shit on a tin roof And when you were admitting you were wrong and the other person was right Your Ass is the blackest

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 09:56 PM

Although the subject is "family sayings", I want to note that with regard to the lyrics "Juba this and Juba that/ Juba skinned a yellow cat" in the dance song "Juba", professor/author Thomas W. Talley wrote that "skinning the cat" was a dance step.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 09:47 PM

Some of these are found everywhere English is spoken- busier than ..., colder than a witch's tit, busier than a one-armed ...., so poor they didn't have a pot to piss in, broadside of a barn, blind as a bat, etc.

Time to unwrap your rung is new to me- What is the origin?

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayin
From: Rowan
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 09:23 PM

It was always "More than one way to skin a cat", and "Not enough room to swing a cat", without the "dead" qualifier, in Melbourne in the 50s.

And "Busier than a one-armed paper-hanger" was always "Busier than a one-armed paper-hanger with the crabs" then, too.

"Tighter than a fish's arse", "Colder than a witch's tit" were also common (in most senses of the word) and "Get a wriggle on" and "Time to unwrap your rung" both meant "Hurry up!"

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 08:54 PM

Busier than a one-armed paper-hanger.

So poor they didn't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 08:45 PM

"More than one way to skin a cat"- Seba Smith, 1854, in the book "'Way Down East, Portraitures of Yankee Life." More ways than one to get what you want. Found in English proverbs, John Rae's collection, 1678.

"To skin the cat" is a gymnastic exercise; we had to do it in physical training- Hanging from a parallel bar, flip anr rotate the feet and body back between the arms. Perhaps this comes from skinning an animal, turning the skin inside out.

Found these at www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mor1.htm

Couldn't find any quotes from John Rae in my Oxford English Dictionary, so outside of the Seba Smith quote, I can't give verification.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayin
From: Sorcha
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 07:32 PM

I think probably more of a euphmisim for 'devil' or 'hell' kat.

My dad said, colder than a well diggers wallet, or colder than a witches teat.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:55 PM

Yuk, I am glad to say I don't remember ever hearing ANY references of violence to cats when I was growing up!

"Couldn't hit the broadside of a barn" comes to mind, as well as "blind as a bat," and "colder than the dickens," which I am sure was an edited version as my mother would have "gone on the warpath" if dad had said the real version, colder than a well-digger's ass" in front of us kids.

I wonder does "dickens" refer to the oft-freezing characters in his novels?

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:53 PM

Must have been their day off when I visited it then.. mind you, I did have a giant Yorkshire pudding served in what could only be described as a ceramic cloth cap....

LTS

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: The Vulgar Boatman
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:48 PM

No mystery about this, but one that may be worth sharing...
The Old Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham is reputedly the oldest inn in the UK. During the days of variety theatre, it was one of the pubs of choice for artists. My daughter was visiting us (and my father in hospital), and said she'd like to go there, to which my mother commented "Well, you know what your Grandad used to say about the Trip" We didn't...
"You don't want to go there - it's full of whores and comic singers".
Oddly enough, it's still full of character to this day.
KYBTTS

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayin
From: joncst
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:46 PM

i think not enough room to swing a cat is naval and is to do with room to use a cato-nine-tails below decks. guess dead got added as saying went from naval use into the vernacular. my wife (nottingham) always says skin a rabbit, when undressing kids, she thinks her family (also north notts) used it regularly.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: Amos
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:38 PM

One I have never heard anywhere is "not enough room to kick the balls on a brass monkey". Anyone? ;>)


A

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: GUEST,Melissa
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:26 PM

I've heard small spaces referred to as "not enough room to swing a dead cat""

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayin
From: Sorcha
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:24 PM

I heard all three usages (take off over your head, more than one way and 'turn inside out' from a horizontal bar...body thru the elbows) as a child, late '50's early '60's, in Winfield, Kansas.

I also heard it as 'not enough room to skin (or cuss) a cat without getting hair in your mouth.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:23 PM

My mother always said 'skin a rabbit' or 'skin a bunny' when she ripped our jumpers up over our ears... I didn't realise what it meant until I saw someone actually skinning a rabbit. The whole skin gets pulled off as if it were a jumper - leaving behind the red flesh, which is what our ears felt like when our heads were outgrowing the jumper at a greater rate than the stretch of the wool would allow.

LTS

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayin
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 04:19 PM

There's more than one way to skin a cat--if you're into cat skinning.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Skin the Cat' and other family sayings
From: GUEST,Val
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 03:55 PM

"There's more than one way to skin a cat" was a phrase I often heard. (multiple solutions to any problem)

Subject: RE: Origins: Skin the Cat
From: Melissa
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:28 PM

we "skinned the cat" as a dismount from hanging upside down on the monkeybar.

Subject: Origins: Skin the Cat & other sayings
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Apr 08 - 02:23 PM

When we were taking off sweaters or t-shirts or other things that went over our heads, my grandmother would say "skin the cat" (which we often pronounced "skinny cat.")

Anybody else familiar with this phrase, or is it just something from my family?


Anybody else have family sayings they wonder about? Please tell us what region you were in when you learned the phrase.

-Joe-