It's an old Dilbert comic strip

http://dilbert.com/strip/1989-08-06

Could someone explain the 6th panel sentence "Ouch! I'll just walk on the bottoms." It seems like he's making a reference to an overused phrase, but I can't figure out what it is.

Thanks.

Yeah, tried googling it. If it's a legitimate phrase, it's definitely not overused at all.

that is probably the joke

His foot is being stepped on. So, it hurts on the top of his foot. But the bottom is still fine...

I'm thinking it's from old slapstick routines from the late second millennium, perhaps early 1900's, maybe mid 1900's. Groucho Marx skits maybe? Certainly the previous phrases in the comic strip reach back to that time. I'm guessing they got over used way back then, and may have still been memorable to the comic strip artist back in 1989 (August 06) when that particular comic strip is dated. Today is almost three decades beyond that even, so it's probably less memorable.

Probably will remain so with the moving picture recordings of people from these most recent decades shifting from whole body views to the waist or chest up. That and showing only one person at a time speaking without any actual physical interaction with other actors, with the actors likely not even filmed at the same time.

Here is what it means. The man on the left stepped on the other man's foot. Naturally he stepped on the top of it. The other man said he would walk on the bottom of his foot as a way of excusing or forgiving him for stepping on his foot. In effect, he said, "Any damage you did will only affect the part of my foot that I don't use for walking."
It isn't an overused phrase. It isn't used at all where I come from.

again
i believe that is part of the joke ;p
they are in the land of over used phrases and the joke is that the phrase used there isnt overused at all

I kind of figured this part.

What I'm wondering is whether it is a modification of an overused phrase. Like the other two being modifications of "Not bad for a Monday" and "5 cent tour".

Here's one to add to an additional panel at the end... "If you have to explain it, it's not funny." :)

Thanks. Googling the full phrase does bring some results.

How do you know this?!

Just a saying where I'm from.

Calling it now, it's gotta be the Midwest. Nobody else speaks so strangely, like still calling soda "pop" and all that nonsense.
Either that or Rhode Island, but nobody knows they exist.

... You guys did notice that the strip is almost 26 years old, right? So maybe the phrase was still in use, somehow, during that time.

Yeah, but most of the people here were about 26 years old 26 years ago, so it says something that a majority of them didn't know it.