"More than one way to skin a cat" revisited

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:39 AM -0500 8/11/07, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
>     An ads-l message of mine several years ago 
>mentioned that "more than one way to skin a cat" 
>referred originally to skinning a catfish, not a 
>feline.  I quoted a Dear Abby letter from 
>someone who sounded very knowledgeable on the 
>subject and who said that there are long 
>discussions by fishermen along the Mississippi 
>about the best way to skin a catfish (frequently 
>referred to simply as a "cat.")
>
>     I was surprised to find this interpretation 
>controversial on ads-l, and one respondent 
>cautioned me that a Dear Abby letter is not a 
>scholarly source and hence not convincing.  At 
>least one or two respondents thought it 
>plausible that the reference was originally to a 
>feline.

How does this adage relate to the one that tells 
us that there are more ways to kill a cat than by 
drowning it in butter?  When I was just writing 
this, I had the strangest feeling of déjà vu, and 
sure enough...cf. 
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0310D&L=ads-l&D=1&P=3584

Four years later, I'm still not sure whether 
you're claiming that the resemblance between the 
drowning in butter dictum, where we can be pretty 
sure no catfish were harmed in the production, 
and the skinning-the-cat dictum is coincidental. 
(I first came across the drowning-cats-in-butter 
adage in a reference by the English linguistic 
philosopher J. L. Austin, so it's not *just* in 
French that this method is considered, hopefully 
only in an academic sense.)  I'm not sure how the 
demonstration below that there are indeed more 
ways than one to skin a catfish, which I'm 
certainly willing to grant, can be decisive here, 
much as we ailurophiles may prefer it to be so.

LH

>      I would now like to revisit the issue, and 
>as a first step I spoke with my colleague Gary 
>Bertrand (Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, 
>University of Missouri-Rolla, whose varied 
>interests particularly include fishing).  I 
>asked him if there have in fact been discussions 
>about the best way to skin a catfish, and he 
>immediately answered yes.
>
>      If in fact there *are* discussions on the 
>various ways to skin a catfish but no 
>discussions on the best way to skin a feline, 
>the catfish interpretation will have gained in 
>convincingness.  So stage #1 is to get familiar 
>with the different ways to skin a catfish.
>Below my signoff now an e-mail which Gary Bertrand sent me on the subject.
>
>Gerald Cohen
>
>[message from Gary Bertrand]:
>
>
>Jerry
>         I found a web page which describes one way to skin a catfish
>
>http://www.instructables.com/id/E7MU3VWUT0EP287ZJG/    .
>
>In the Comments below the "instructible", readers have described two
>other ways.
>
>1. The author uses a knife to peel the skin off the whole catfish,
>after taking off some of the fins.  I've never heard of this before,
>and I don't recommend it.
>
>2.  One of the readers suggests the technique that is used for most
>fish (bass, crappie, and I use it for trout).  I have used it for
>small pan-sized catfish - I had a pond full of catfish before I moved
>into town about 12 years ago.  You fillet the fish then lay it
>skin-side-down on a board, and slide the knife between the skin and
>the fillet.  The whole operation can be done very quickly with an
>electric knife.
>
>3.  Another reader says to hang it up by the gills, make a cut around
>the fish just behind the head, then pull the skin down from that
>point with a pair of pliers.  That's probably the best way for big
>fish, like over ten pounds and up to 50 lbs.  Some people cut off the
>fish's tail and let the blood drain before they skin and clean it.
>
>         There are two variations on #3.  When you have a pond, or if you
>live on the water, it's convenient to have a spiked board where you
>impale the head of the fish on the spikes instead of hanging it up by
>the gills.  Then you make the cut around the back of the head and
>peel off the skin with pliers.  The other variation is for fish that
>are small enough that you don't need to anchor the head.  You make
>the cut around the head, stick your left thumb into the gills, and
>pull the skin off with pliers.
>
>         For my own interest, I'll keep looking for other ways that have been
>used, but this should give you ample evidence that "There's more than
>one way to skin a cat."
>
>Best Regards,
>Gary
>
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org