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Poke in the eye with a sharp stick/choke cat with butter

Posted by Robin on April 12, 2001

In Reply to: Poke in the eye with a sharp stick/choke cat with butter posted by D. Pulaski on April 11, 2001

something like "you can't choke a cat with butter" also as if to say, there's a better way to do it, makes more sense to me. Butter actually helps a cat pass hairballs down the ol tract, instead of hacking them up on the sofa. (My grandmother used to let her cat lick about a half a teaspoon of butter every day.)

: My grandfather used to use the above phrases. He would say 'It is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick' of payments or rewards that were very meager. (as in minimum wage is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. He also used to say that there were more ways to kill a cat than by choking it to death with butter to mean that 1. your solution to this problem is stupid/extreme 2. there are always more than 2 solutions to any problem.
: Does anyone know the origins of these expressions?
: thanks, dpp

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