Meaner than second skimmings

Posted by Victoria S Dennis April 12, 2010 at 21:46In reply to Meaner than second skimmings posted by Sandy on April 09, 2010 at 09:38:

Anyone know the meaning/origin of the phrase "meaner than second skimmings"?

I've never heard it before, but I assume it derives from skimming milk. When you skim new milk, you get nice full cream. If you skim it again, you get something only marginally richer than skim milk. That's pretty mean. (VSD)