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"Skin a bunny"

(85 Posts)
eddiecat78 Sun 02-Feb-25 11:07:29

Anyone else familiar with this phrase? My mum used to say this when peeling off my vest over my head prior to a bath. I said it to my children and automatically said it to grandchildren too!

Indigo8 Sun 02-Feb-25 11:19:17

Yes, but my mum used to say "Skin a rabbit". Maybe she said this version because she didn't like us using childish names for animals like gee-gee. I never understood why.

eazybee Sun 02-Feb-25 11:21:16

My mother used to say 'skin a rabbit 'when peeling my Chilprufe vest over my head. Many years later, on a cookery course, I did learn how to skin a real rabbit, and it was like easing a body out of its clothes. Never been able to fancy eating rabbit somehow.

Shelflife Sun 02-Feb-25 11:21:41

My Mum was ' skin a rabbit' too!

MissAdventure Sun 02-Feb-25 11:22:29

I've never heard it, and it would have upset me, no doubt, if anyone had said it.
I was a miserable child. who grew into a miserable adult

M0nica Sun 02-Feb-25 11:26:28

I was a very skinny child and my mother used to say that she always bought my swimming costumes one size too large to stop me looking like a skinned rabbit.

Mind you I loved eating rabbit - still do, slow cooked in an oven or slow cooker, not to mention rabbit pate.

Usedtobeblonde Sun 02-Feb-25 11:31:08

Skin a rabbit was in my childhood too.
I don’t know if I said it to my own children or not.
Maybe they would remember.

Allira Sun 02-Feb-25 11:32:12

My Mum said 'skin a rabbit' too.
And that song was popular "Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run"

I can't eat rabbit, not since I had a pet one. It's not that I won't, I can't.

MissAdventure Sun 02-Feb-25 11:36:21

Nor me.
I used to have stay at the table until I'd eaten, but I couldn't eat rabbit.

Cossy Sun 02-Feb-25 11:38:54

My parents did sing “run rabbit” but never used the “skin the bunny/rabbit expression.

MissAdventure Sun 02-Feb-25 11:41:11

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Goes the farmer's gun sad

eddiecat78 Sun 02-Feb-25 11:45:23

Glad I'm not the only one! I expect my gran said it to my mum too. I wonder how far back it goes - presumably from the time when women were regularly skinning rabbits

ViceVersa Sun 02-Feb-25 11:47:07

Never heard of it used in that way, but my mum used to say 'there's more than one way to skin a rabbit'.

pascal30 Sun 02-Feb-25 11:49:41

M0nica

I was a very skinny child and my mother used to say that she always bought my swimming costumes one size too large to stop me looking like a skinned rabbit.

Mind you I loved eating rabbit - still do, slow cooked in an oven or slow cooker, not to mention rabbit pate.

My mum used to make the most delicious rabbit dishes.. we had it quite regularly ... but I haven't tasted it now for years..

Allira Sun 02-Feb-25 11:52:37

My mother refused to cook it after myxamstosis was introduced but I suppose I must have eaten it before then. My DB kept rabbits during WW2, so I was told. For years I happily imagined they were family pets but no, they were for much-welcomed food.

MissAdventure Sun 02-Feb-25 11:54:04

I can remember them hanging up in the butchers, on hooks.

Indigo8 Sun 02-Feb-25 11:54:31

ViceVersa

Never heard of it used in that way, but my mum used to say 'there's more than one way to skin a rabbit'.

The version I heard of this was 'There's more than one way to skin a cat". As a life long cat lover, I have always hated this expression.

valdali Sun 02-Feb-25 11:55:47

"Skin a rabbit" when taking off vest, yes. Haven't heard it for many years.
I love rabbit stew / casserole too, used to eat it as a cash-strapped student but flatmates wouldn't let me put rabbits in the fridge so I hung them outside the window to keep cool.

ViceVersa Sun 02-Feb-25 11:59:43

Indigo8

ViceVersa

Never heard of it used in that way, but my mum used to say 'there's more than one way to skin a rabbit'.

The version I heard of this was 'There's more than one way to skin a cat". As a life long cat lover, I have always hated this expression.

Yes, I've heard that version too - my mum always said rabbit though.

Georgesgran Sun 02-Feb-25 13:12:51

I’ve never heard it either.

Someone very thin (like DGS2) is ‘like a skinned rabbit’ when naked or ‘built like a racing snake!’

Also ‘more than one way to skin a cat’ for looking for an alternative method of doing something.

Couldn’t eat rabbit - I had them as pets, so no way would I consider one food/edible.

BlueBelle Sun 02-Feb-25 13:16:22

Yes for sure‘Skin a rabbit’ not a bunny in our house

SandraF Sun 02-Feb-25 13:16:42

My mum used to say, "skin a rabbit for ninepence"! Don't know if that was a Brummie saying.

Mamie Sun 02-Feb-25 13:18:00

Skin a rabbit for taking off vest here too (and liberty bodice?). It was SE England. Usually just before you sat on the draining board (no bathroom) to be given your cod liver oil.

yogitree Sun 02-Feb-25 13:23:52

I'm in Scotland and if I came home drookit (soaking wet) from the rain, my mother would say I looked like a skinned rabbit.

MissAdventure Sun 02-Feb-25 13:24:38

My mum used to talk about liberty bodices.