"More than one way to skin a cat" revisited

[Baker, John]

        A couple of sources that seem to support a reference to the
domestic animal and not the fish.

        "Thar's more ways nor one to skin a cat, without pulling the
hide off over her head."  Emerson Bennett, The Phantom of the Forest
(1868; copyright 1867) (Google Books full text).  Clearly a mammalian
cat is meant.  This is a quarter-century after the earliest example of
the proverb in YBQ, but arguably early enough to be significant.

        "_What can you have of a cat but her skin?_ The thing is useless
for any purpose but one. In former times the cat's fur was used for
trimming cloaks and coats, but the flesh is utterly useless."  Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 ed.), online at
http://www.bartleby.com/81/3165.html.


John Baker

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