I got the following compilation of web responses from Yahoo: Answers
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Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
SKIN THE CAT - According to Charles Earle Funk
in "A Hog on Ice" (Harper & Row, New York, 1948) the expression "to
skin the cat" refers to a boy's gymnastic trick: "In America, as any
country boy knows, this means to hang by the hands from a branch or bar,
draw the legs up through the arms and over the branch, and pull oneself
up into a sitting position. As we must abide by the record, we cannot
say positively that the name for this violent small-boy exercise is more
than a century old, but it is highly likely that Ben Franklin or
earlier American lads had the same name for it. No one got around to
putting it into print until about 1845. One can't be sure why the
operation was called 'skinning the cat,' but maybe some mother, seeing
it for the first time, saw in it some resemblance to the physical
operation of removing the pelt from a cat, first from the forelegs and
down over the body." Mr. Funk doesn't say WHY anyone would actually skin
a cat, but anyway.
: : "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996) lists the expression "more than one way to skin a cat" but doesn't really address the origin. Mr. Titelman does say it dates back to the 1678: "MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CAT --There are many ways to do something. The proverb appeared in John Ray's collection of English proverbs in 1678, and is first attested in the United States in 'John Smith's Letters' (1839). 'There are more ways to kill a cat besides choking him to death' is a variant of the saying. The words 'with butter' or 'on cream' may replace the words 'to death' in the latter version."
: "this means to hang by the hands from a branch or bar, draw the legs up through the arms and over the branch, and pull oneself up into a sitting position."
: This cannot be the origin as there is only one way to "skin" this cat - just as described.
Rube is right, this maneuver cannot be performed in more than one way. Charles Funk claims that every country boy in America knows the maneuver. Well, I was a country boy in America, and although the maneuver was certainly well-known, it was not known by that name in any part of the country where I ever lived. The name "skin the cat" makes little sense in connection with the saying. This is a case where to "skin a cat" is very different from "skin the cat." This etymology is just plain wrong. As for there being "more than one way to kill a cat," that's pretty obvious. I'm not convinced that that saying (if there really is one) has anything to do with the "skin a cat" saying, unless it simply resulted from a misunderstanding or faulty memory of the latter.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board…
Idioms: more than one way to skin a cat
More than one method to reach the same end, as in We can get around that by renting instead of buying a computer--there's more than one way to skin a cat. This expression may be an American version of the earlier British more ways of killing a cat, but why the death of a cat should be alluded to at all is not clear. [Second half of 1800s]
http://www.answers.com/topic/more-than-o…
There are several versions of this saying, which suggests that there are always several ways to do something. Charles Kingsley used one old British form in Westward Ho! in 1855: “there are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream”. Other versions include “there are more ways of killing a dog than hanging him”, “there are more ways of killing a cat than by choking it with butter”, and “there are more ways of killing a dog than choking him with pudding”.
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. An earlier appearance is in ’Way down East; or, Portraitures of Yankee Life by Seba Smith of about 1854: “This is a money digging world of ours; and, as it is said, ‘there are more ways than one to skin a cat,’ so are there more ways than one of digging for money”. From the way he writes, the author clearly knew this to be a well-known existing proverbial saying. In fact, it is first recorded in John Ray’s collection of English proverbs as far back as 1678.
Some writers have pointed to its use in the southern states of the US in reference to catfish, often abbreviated to cat, a fish that is indeed usually skinned in preparing it for eating. However, it looks very much from the multiple versions of the saying, their wide distribution and their age, that this is just a local application of the proverb.
The version more than one way to skin a cat seems to have nothing directly to do with the American English term to skin a cat, which is to perform a type of gymnastic exercise, involving passing the feet and legs between the arms while hanging by the hands from a horizontal bar. However, its name may have been
: : "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996) lists the expression "more than one way to skin a cat" but doesn't really address the origin. Mr. Titelman does say it dates back to the 1678: "MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CAT --There are many ways to do something. The proverb appeared in John Ray's collection of English proverbs in 1678, and is first attested in the United States in 'John Smith's Letters' (1839). 'There are more ways to kill a cat besides choking him to death' is a variant of the saying. The words 'with butter' or 'on cream' may replace the words 'to death' in the latter version."
: "this means to hang by the hands from a branch or bar, draw the legs up through the arms and over the branch, and pull oneself up into a sitting position."
: This cannot be the origin as there is only one way to "skin" this cat - just as described.
Rube is right, this maneuver cannot be performed in more than one way. Charles Funk claims that every country boy in America knows the maneuver. Well, I was a country boy in America, and although the maneuver was certainly well-known, it was not known by that name in any part of the country where I ever lived. The name "skin the cat" makes little sense in connection with the saying. This is a case where to "skin a cat" is very different from "skin the cat." This etymology is just plain wrong. As for there being "more than one way to kill a cat," that's pretty obvious. I'm not convinced that that saying (if there really is one) has anything to do with the "skin a cat" saying, unless it simply resulted from a misunderstanding or faulty memory of the latter.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board…
Idioms: more than one way to skin a cat
More than one method to reach the same end, as in We can get around that by renting instead of buying a computer--there's more than one way to skin a cat. This expression may be an American version of the earlier British more ways of killing a cat, but why the death of a cat should be alluded to at all is not clear. [Second half of 1800s]
http://www.answers.com/topic/more-than-o…
There are several versions of this saying, which suggests that there are always several ways to do something. Charles Kingsley used one old British form in Westward Ho! in 1855: “there are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream”. Other versions include “there are more ways of killing a dog than hanging him”, “there are more ways of killing a cat than by choking it with butter”, and “there are more ways of killing a dog than choking him with pudding”.
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. An earlier appearance is in ’Way down East; or, Portraitures of Yankee Life by Seba Smith of about 1854: “This is a money digging world of ours; and, as it is said, ‘there are more ways than one to skin a cat,’ so are there more ways than one of digging for money”. From the way he writes, the author clearly knew this to be a well-known existing proverbial saying. In fact, it is first recorded in John Ray’s collection of English proverbs as far back as 1678.
Some writers have pointed to its use in the southern states of the US in reference to catfish, often abbreviated to cat, a fish that is indeed usually skinned in preparing it for eating. However, it looks very much from the multiple versions of the saying, their wide distribution and their age, that this is just a local application of the proverb.
The version more than one way to skin a cat seems to have nothing directly to do with the American English term to skin a cat, which is to perform a type of gymnastic exercise, involving passing the feet and legs between the arms while hanging by the hands from a horizontal bar. However, its name may have been
