To cut both ways

Posted by TheFallen on March 21, 2003

In Reply to: To cut both ways posted by Dave M. on March 21, 2003

: First, thanks to all who helped with the previous inquiry - very helpful community!

: The latest mystery is "to cut both ways". I know what the expression means, but any ideas as to its origin? Google's not yielding too much information.

: --Dave

My understanding is this. A two-edged sword cuts both ways, thus giving us the synonymous idioms "that's a two-edged sword" and "that cuts both ways".