yak shaving

Definition

Any apparently useless activity which, by allowing one to overcome intermediate difficulties, allows one to solve a larger problem.

Etymology

Coined by Carlin Vieri in his time at the MIT AI Lab (1993–1998) after viewing a segment at the end of "The Boy Who Cried Rat!" (1991), the sixth episode of the first season of The Ren and Stimpy Show. The segment featured "Yak Shaving Day", a Christmas-like holiday where participants watch for the shaven yak to float by in his enchanted canoe.

Example Sentences

• "I was doing a bit of yak shaving this morning, and it looks like it might have paid off."
• "I looked at a reference manual for my car just to answer one question, but I spent the whole afternoon with my nose buried in it, just yak shaving, and got no work done on the car itself."
• "For quotations using this term, see Citations:yak shaving."

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