“Cutting corners” implies taking the quickest or cheapest route to an end result, often by omitting important steps or defying conventional standards. For instance, if you’re approaching hangry levels and don’t want to wait to preheat the oven, you might microwave a slice of pizza instead. It’ll taste OK, but it will lack the crispiness that you would have gotten with the proper cooking technique.
There’s no surefire source for the phrase, as some details have been omitted over the years. But there are some probable theories for how “cut corners” was coined, dating to literal examples in the 19th century. One early instance appears in an 1852 book about hunting with hounds, discussing how certain horsemen would cut across corners of the riding path to avoid the “undulating nature of the ground.” But the best riders were said to never cut corners and instead followed the hounds exactly — even for a longer journey — as it would often lead to a higher-quality result.
Another commonly perpetuated story involves carriage riding, specifically the claim that drivers would take street corners sharply and sometimes hop the curb. It’s difficult to know if this is an origin story, but the practice likely contributed to solidifying the phrase in the lexicon.
“Cut corners” soon took on a metaphorical meaning that had less to do with cutting through physical planes, and more with the general idea of taking shortcuts. The Oxford English Dictionary cites an 1868 article from a Huddersfield, England, newspaper on the topic of “the art of ‘cutting the corners,’ and other less legitimate tricks.” From there on out, the phrase developed widespread usage to describe anyone doing limited work for a satisfactory, yet subpar result.
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