English idiom
yak shaving
Figurative meaning
a seemingly pointless chain of tasks that must each be completed before the original task can be done
Why this phrase?
Popularized by MIT's AI lab; the image is from the cartoon Ren & Stimpy, where Ren must shave a yak before he can get a paddle to row the boat he needs to do a favour.
Example
“I just wanted to send one email, but upgrading my laptop turned into a three-hour yak-shaving session.”
Additional meanings
Dictionary details
Component words
Related idioms
Expressions connected by reviewed component words or topic tags.
kill two birds with one stone
CEFR B1To accomplish two tasks with a single effort or action.
band-aid fix
CEFR B2a hasty, temporary solution that patches a symptom without addressing the root cause
feature creep
CEFR B2the uncontrolled growth of new features until a product becomes bloated and hard to use
go down a rabbit hole
CEFR B2to get lost in a long, winding, often pointless digression while researching or building something
quick and dirty
CEFR B2done rapidly and roughly, with little care for quality or polish
smoke test
CEFR B2a quick, shallow test that checks whether a system's most basic functions work at all
Source methodology
Meanings, register, CEFR, and examples come from the reviewed dictionary record. Expression notes may describe a reviewed present-day word picture or a background note; they are not presented as verified etymology.