A final insult, to both canines and women, is the use of dog to mean an ugly woman. (No epithet for an ugly man.) Before animals were thought of as pets, many or most people seemed unable to discern beauty in beings other than human. But as Leonardo Da Vinci, generally considered history’s greatest genius, said of the cat, “’tis a thing of beauty and a living work of art.” (Woof?! Steady, Fido.)
Seeing a Man about a Dog
The Victorian era was known for prudery and hypocrisy, traits which often combine to produce euphemisms. One such was to go “see a man about a dog.” It signified, even in unmixed company, one’s unexplained intention to depart present company to engage in a, ahem, delicate activity. Often a visit to a prostitute. The expression later came to mean an excuse to depart for any reason. In the United States during Prohibition (1920–1933) it became a euphemism for going to purchase illegal liquor.
In the Old West men often bought liquor at low-class watering holes known as dog-holes or doggeries. The latter may have resulted from crossing dog with groggery. Grog was a nickname for spirits (originally rum) mixed with water. In time, individuals leaving for an unacknowledged drink or snort dropped the dog and simply said they had to go see a man.
By the late 20th century “seeing a man about a dog” became widely used by women too—though they still went to see a mythical man—and had changed implication, for prostitution, liquor, betting, and such were replaced by the call of nature. As in The Third Deadly Sin, a 1981 novel by Lawrence Sanders: “‘Make yourself at home,’ Fred said. ‘I gotta see a man about a dog.’ He went into the bathroom, closed the door.”
More Human Dogs
A lapdog is an overly pampered person or child or somebody completely under another’s influence. Conversely, a top dog is someone who makes himself dominant or master. When these expressions began, before electric saw mills, logs were positioned over specially dug pits. Two men used a long saw; one stood in the pit and got covered in sawdust—he usually protected his throat with a scarf—while the other sawyer remained at ground level and guided the saw while it cut. The paired but unequal jobs were called top dog and under dog (vs. the underdog that lost a dog fight).
(Another kind of sawyer—besides Tom—is a big insect whose larvae bore tunnels inside wood.)
A dogsbody is someone, usually starting up the professional ladder, given boring or menial tasks.
In Australia and New Zealand a dogman is he who operates a crane while sitting on a crane’s load.
A gay dog used to mean someone pursuing an idle lifestyle while displaying the symbols of (usually inherited) wealth. Or it was a young man with an active romantic life. Now it would refer to a homosexual or bisexual canine.
Talk about projection: a human wearing a hangdog expression or having a hangdog air is said to look dejected, guilty or shamefaced.
Love me, love my dog—the person saying this may or may not have a dog but wants to be liked as an individual, flaws and all, or requires an intimate to also like their friends and perhaps pets.
To dress up like a dog’s dinner, used more often in Britain, is to wear godawful clothes and usually refers to a female.
A hound dog is an odd thing to call one’s girlfriend, even if she’s “cryin’ all the time,” as in one of Elvis Presley’s early hits. The lyric adds that she’s no friend of his because she “ain’t never caught a rabbit.” The lyric was originally penned for a woman to sing about her disappointing man.
A hot dog (see prior entry) was sometimes said by his fellow collegiates—back when very few women went to college—to “put on the dog,” or dress conspicuously. Today the phrase signifies trying to impress, usually without notable apparel. Putting on the dog might refer to, say, a costly dinner prepared for special guests—at which hot dogs (the culinary kind) would never be served (though caviar, or fish eggs, quite possibly).
Nouveau riche Americans in Europe who socialized with local moneybags were said to put on the dog because some of their wives spent small fortunes acquiring fancy little dogs to put on their laps for show.
Sic ’im!
Sic ’im!—the command to a canine—means Get him! To sic, originally meaning to find, is a corruption of the German word such (pronounced zooh—heavy h—from the verb suchen, to seek or look for). It’s used by trainers of guardian, tracking, and police dogs, and orders the animal to locate a hidden perpetrator or victim. Trainee dogs are only supposed to attack if the sought human tries to run away or hit the dog. But thanks to the dramatic misinformation typical of most movies and TV, “sic” in the popular imagination means a command to attack. Which usually it is not.
If you’ve wondered why wet dogs wait to shake the water off until they’ve gotten close to their masters, the reason is endearing rather than annoying. A domestic canine’s desire to return to its master’s side after a wetting experience is temporarily stronger than its wish to shake itself dry.
A Dog. . .
It takes “A dog’s age,” or very long time, to suffer through “a dog’s life.” Why dogs became associated with taking a long time is a mystery, especially as their lifespans are much shorter than humans’. As for a dog’s life being dreary or downtrodden, hopefully it isn’t to the dog concerned. Unless the poor animal has to “work like a dog,” which would be thanks to a human. (“Dog-tired,” invariably applied to people, also harkens back to when dogs had forced careers.)
“A dog’s breakfast” (or dinner) is British slang for a mess. This seems more apt for a pig than a canine (which, after all, buries its bone), but was coined in a pre-canned-dog-food era when the meal of a dog or cat (“a cat’s breakfast” means the same) was often leftover scraps tossed on the floor—by a human who didn’t put them in a dish.
“A dog-and-pony show” is North American slang for a fancy or overdone presentation or event. Like, say, a political convention or some TV sports productions.
A dog collar is an irreverent nickname for a clerical collar but was also slang for the stiff high collars once required of Yale University students—all were male—on formal occasions.
A dog clutch mechanically pairs two shafts—one slotted, one with teeth—so they can initiate motion. A dogtrot is an easy gentle trot and a dog cart is a two-wheeled cart for driving in which originally included a box beneath the seat for the hunter’s dogs (charming, eh?).
Ungraciously, a dog end is the last and least desirable part of something. In Britain it also means a cigarette end or butt. A dog-leg is a sharp bend or a golf hole where the fairway bends, the former reminiscent of the angle of a male dog’s leg lifted to pee.
A dogger is either a big rounded concretion in sedimentary rock or a “two-masted bluff-bowed Dutch fishing boat” (what else?).
A doghouse is a pooch’s abode or a raised standing area at the rear end of a yacht’s coachroof—well, of course. To be in the doghouse is to be in disgrace or disfavor.
A dogwatch on a ship runs from only four to six or six to eight p.m. (however, some are late-night, when on land supposedly only a dog would be awake). A possible origin of the term is the claim that the Dog Star is the first to be visible in the evening sky, while one wag has suggested that the abbreviated watch is cur-tailed.
A dogshore is either of two timber blocks placed on each side of a ship to prevent it sliding. A firedog, also known as an andiron, is one of a decorative pair of metal supports for wood burning in a fireplace.
A Dogrib isn’t canine fast-food, but a Native American from northwestern Canada or Alaska. Dogrib, or “dog’s flank,” is also a name for their Athabaskan language and stems from the legend that their common ancestor was a dog.
Hair and Bones
“The hair of the dog” is a laughably curative phrase that goes back to when English doctors prescribed “the hair of the dog that bit you.” That is, rubbing the hair of the dog that bit you into the wound it made (doctoring often used to be a sideline for barbers). The theory was that like cures like. Over the centuries, hair of the
dog became associated with alcohol, the idea—or excuse—being that a drink or two the morning after would diminish the hangover. Wonder what AA has to say about that.
“A bone to pick” originated in the 1500s when the sight of a dog chewing on a bone till it was picked clean put somebody in mind of two humans with a symbolic bone to pick—talking (or hashing) out a problem until it was solved or picked clean. Likewise and in the same century, a bone of contention over which two dogs fought came to represent two humans (with a mutual beef) arguing.
Doggone Phrases
Some ailurophobes have expostulated the dog’s superiority over the cat by pointing out that dog is God spelled backwards. In English, anyway. But did you know that the ejaculation Doggone! (or Doggone it!)—usually uttered with an exclamation mark—is attributable to a 19th-century euphemism, dog on it, that avoided the then-taboo God damn it?
To lie doggo parallels to play possum in its meaning of lying quietly and still so as to avoid detection. Unlike its cousin, this phrase’s origin is unknown.
Dogged, as in dogged pursuit, obviously references the tenacity of most dogs once they’ve gotten hold of a scent (or a frisbee, etc.).
To “go to the dogs” means to deteriorate markedly or go downhill. It may be related to Britain’s the dogs, which means greyhound racing. For, if a man often went to the dogs, a gambling addiction was likely and penury possible.
Doggerel, originally humorous verse composed in irregular rhythm, later (because of the prefix dog-) acquired the contemptuous connotation of poorly written verse or words. Similarly, dog Latin—unlike the jocular pig Latin—denotes a debased form of Latin. Thumb through a book carelessly or often enough and its corners become dog-eared, doggone it.
Dogtrot is an obsolete American name for a porte cochere (literally, coach door or gate), a covered entrance or porch where cars stop to disgorge passengers.
Dog days are the hottest part of the year—when a dog gets hot under the collar—reckoned in ancient times from the simultaneous rising of the sun and Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. Sirius is the Dog Star, which appears to follow on the heels of Orion the hunter.
Soldiers wear identifying dog tags, dandies may sport a dogstooth pattern, flashier dressers might prefer the larger houndstooth pattern, and dogs’-teeth—small pointy moldings—adorn (since the 12th century) the apses, arches, arcades or archivolts of some buildings.
A dog’s-tooth, or noticeable notch, is also found on the edge of an airplane wing or tailplane, for instance, on the F-4 Phantom and F-15 Eagle. It was first used in the Wright brothers’ Flyer IV.
Dogs’ Feet
“My dogs are killing me!” is a remark heard in myriad old movies, usually from a woman (no lady) relievedly removing her shoes. A British variation dating back at least a few centuries was “My dogs are barking!” Linguist Mario Pei theorized that dogs became associated with feet because they have twice as many as humans—thus, twice the potential for sore feet—and that although a more logical remark would be “My paws are killing me!” paws are generally considered closer to hands than feet, since dogs use their front paws for digging.
Question: Do a dog’s feet ever get tired?
A perhaps apocryphal story has a German or Hungarian movie director advising an uninspired Hollywood star that an actor’s emotions should emerge “during the dog’s feet.” The star was bewildered and annoyed by the director’s repeated phrase until an assistant explained that the director meant “during the pawses.”
Doggy. . .
The dog is a standard, used by humans more often than any animal but the horse in comparisons with other beings and things—as this book makes doggedly clear. Sometimes the canine connection was only in the eye of a few beholders but the name or phrase stuck anyway.
Not much style to doggy-style, but Noel Coward managed a classy answer when a friend’s small child asked why one dog was standing so close behind another dog on the village green. Sir Noel declared that the first dog had taken ill and the second dog was very kindly pushing it toward the nearest hospital.
The doggy-paddle, now better known as the dog-paddle, is a basic swimming stroke resembling that of a dog.
Doggy bag is a euphemism pertaining to the uneaten restaurant food one takes away to eat later. It could as easily have been a kitty bag, but the g’s in “doggy” complement the g in bag better.
Doggy Biz
The names of real businesses catering (mostly) to our best friend:
All Dogs Go to Heaven Crematorium—in Brighton, England
Citizen Canine—a dog kennel in Oakland, California
Collie Flowers & Hearts—a doggy gift-shop-on-wheels in Toronto, Canada
Doggie Style—a dog-grooming business in North Highlands, California
Doggy ’Do—a dog hairstyling salon in Sydney, Australia
Ms. Gooch’s Pooch Obedience Academy—in Dunedin, New Zealand
Murphy’s Paw—a doggy gift store in Pleasanton, California
Paws & Refresh—a nail-trimming and shampooing spa in Cincinnati, Ohio
Tail o’ the Pup—a hot dog stand in Los Angeles, California
Wagga Wagga Canine Beauty Salon—in Wagga Wagga, Australia
Canine Critters
The bulldog, with its powerful protruding lower jaw, was originally bred and trained to bite into a bull and hang on until the bull died. In rodeos and the like, to bulldog—or bulldogging—is a human wrestling a steer to the ground by holding his horns and twisting his neck.
A bulldog ant is a sizeable Australian ant with big jaws and a potent sting. But a bulldog bond is a sterling bond issued on the British market by a foreign borrower, while a bulldog clip is a patented spring metal device with two flat sides that close to hold papers together.
The smallish cocker spaniel of the silky coat and soulful eyes was bred to flush game birds such as woodcock. Likewise, the name of the amiable terrier belies its origin as a tenacious breed used to turn out various animals, including foxes (so, fox terriers), from their earths. The word derives from Latin terra, earth.
A dog whelk is a predatory marine mollusk seen on shore or found in shallow waters, while a spur-dog isn’t an animal, but a mechanical device for gripping.
If a catfish is a fish with whiskers, what’s a dogfish? It’s a small shark with a long tail. Bow-wouch.
Everyone’s heard of bats in the belfry—up where the bells are kept, in a bell tower or steeple, symbolizing a batty person’s brain. An alternative, seldom heard now, was bulldogs in the belfry, used by Ray Bradbury in his 1981 story “Colonel Stonesteel’s Genuine Home-Made Truly Egyptian Mummy.”
Garden Dogs
Dogwood is so named because its hard wood was used to make “dogs” or skewers.
A dogberry is a fruit of poor eating quality from a dogwood or other shrub or tree.
Dogbane (compare to wolfsbane) is a plant reputedly poisonous to dogs; bane was an old name for poison.
Dogstail is fodder grass with spiky flower heads.
Dog’s mercury is a plant with hairy stems.
A dog violet is a scentless wild violet, but a dog’s-tooth violet is a member of the lily family with backward-pointing curved petals (Erythronium dens-canis).
Hound’s tongue is a tall plant with tongue-shaped leaves and—get this—a mousy smell.
Little Dogie
In most westerns, it’s clear when the cowboy says or sings, “Get along, little dogie,” that he’s addressing a calf. A dogie may be an abandoned or motherless calf (sometimes because she’s been recently slaughtered), but not usually. When fans wrote to Republic Studios in the 1940s inquiring about dogies, one publicist replied that the name was owed to compassionate cowboys replacing the calf’s mother with a dog for a companion, sometimes tethering the two together.
That explanation has been discredited. Rather, some cowboys called a calf a dogie after the Spanish dogal, a halter or noose that keeps a calf away from its mother while she’s being milked. Doz
ens of anglicized cowboy terms came from Spanish, such as vamoose from vamos, let’s go, and buckaroo, which evolved—or devolved—from vaquero (vaca means cow).
Can It
The idea of putting a stop to something or someone overlaps the concept of making them disappear. Can it!—meaning stop it—is over a century old. Helen Green’s 1908 The Maison de Shine includes the order: “You can that stuff!”
The expression evolved from the cruel practice of tying a can to a dog’s tail, then starting to chase it—whereupon the frightened animal, hearing the scary, noisy attachment, runs all the faster, disappearing from the area and probably never returning. This led to “tying a can to somebody”—a human—to get rid of him. Another 1908 novel, The Call of the South by Robert Lee Durham, depicts an angry political rally in which the mob tries to drown out a dissenter with shouts of “Shoot the dog!” and “Tie a can to his tail!”
The tail part of the expression eventually became obsolete, leaving just the can. Over the decades and via umpteen movies and TV programs, Can it! became synonymous with Shut up. In time that usage also diminished. Today, “getting canned” means being fired—in other words, a stop to one’s employment.
(The Animal Legal Defense Fund [aldf.org] is trying to establish a national animal-abuser registry “to give animal shelters and law enforcement a way to keep track of animal abusers in their area and keep animals out of the hands of these violent criminals.” The ALDF asks, “Is community service enough for torturing and killing an innocent dog?”)
Mascots
By the early 20th century dogs had earned an almost entirely benign image—who knew from pit bulls then?—and were coming into wide use to advertise products. (Mascot comes from the French word for sorcerer.) One of the earliest and longest-lasting product mascots was Nipper of RCA fame, who listens to “his master’s voice.” Its inspiration was a real fox terrier named Nipper who supposedly, at his master’s funeral, was mesmerized by a recording of the dead man’s voice and stared into the phonograph’s horn, his head slightly cocked in puzzlement.
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