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Nah. Yak Shaving is “I wanted to do X, but I had to do six other things before I could actually do X.”
by jzb 3y ago
Nah. Yak Shaving is “I wanted to do X, but I had to do six other things before I could actually do X.”
- krono 3y agoThe Wiktionary definition I linked to doesn't reflect that, it should probably be updated then.
- daswerth 3y agoIt's definition 1 in the link you shared: Any apparently useless activity which, by allowing one to overcome intermediate difficulties, allows one to solve a larger problem.
- actionfromafar 3y agoIt started like that, but I think it also nowadays means "an awful lot of work for very small results".
- jzb 3y agoIf anybody's using it like that, it's totally lost its meaning. The whole concept is that sometimes to get result A you have to a total laundry list of seemingly unrelated tasks to clear the way. This scene[1] from Malcolm in the Middle almost illustrates it perfectly except it's more Hal getting distracted on side quests that were spawned because he tried to change a light bulb... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0
- krono 3y agoJust circling back here to say thanks for the correction. The "seemingly" part is what I missed.