The term is used to express that there are always multiple ways of accomplishing something. However, the origin apparently had nothing to do with being creative about the approach to completing a task. Charles Funk in “A Hog on Ice” writes that it came from watching children hanging by the hands from a branch or bar, drawing the legs up through the arms and over the branch, and pulling themselves up into a sitting position. The term first showed up in print around 1845.