“Catch as catch can” is an idiom meaning that something must be accomplished by any possible method, with a connotation of lack of planning. It originated from wrestling and suggests that results are more important than means. Idioms acquire meaning over time and add color to conversations.
“Catch as catch can” is an English idiom meaning that something must be accomplished by any possible method. If a job or task is described in this way, it may suggest a lack of planning on the part of the person doing it. The implication is that how something is achieved is not as important as whether it is done. This phrase has its origins in the sport of wrestling, where a match with no restrictions on the types of holds that can be used is called a “catch as catch can” match.
An idiom is a short phrase or phrase that may not mean what the words it contains suggest based on their literal definitions. Instead, an idiom may acquire its meaning over time from how it is used in a culture, even if this meaning has little or no connection to its literal origins. Using such phrases allows speakers to add some color and impact to their conversations with others. One such idiom is the phrase “catch as catch can”.
Basically, the phrase means that a person who does something can take many different paths to get it. As long as the thing is done, however, it doesn’t matter which method was used. In this way, the phrase suggests that a person should be concerned with results first rather than means. For example, someone might say, “That was pretty much a problem, but even though it was an unorthodox method, we did it.”
There is also often a connotation attached to this phrase suggesting that a job may have been done with little planning or foresight. When used this way, the phrase implies that the people doing the work simply put their heads down and get to work until they’re done. As a result, the effort may not have been as efficient as it could have been, but it was effective none the less. Using this context, consider the sentence: “I built that deck without instructions; it was pretty much catch as catch as possible. ”
In the sport of wrestling, two fighters try to wrap each other in a series of different holds. Many types of wrestling allow only certain types of holds, but “catch as catch can” wrestling has no such restrictions. As a result, this phrase is often closely associated with the phrase “no holds barred,” which also comes from wrestling.
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