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A FEW OF MY FAVORITE DOG-ISMS by Jayne Ormerod

Today I’m blogging about Dog-isms. You know, those colorful turns of the phrase that involve our canine companions. Some are silly, some are thoughtful, but all have interesting etymologies. Today we’ll examine my top five favorites.  

5. RAINING CATS AND DOGS. I’m a sucker for a good folk story, so bought into the 16th-century one about dogs and cats climbing up on thatched roofs of those oh-so-cute Costwold-style homes to burrow in for shelter. Then if it rained hard, they creatures would literally be flushed from their homes and fall onto the streets below. Hence, “raining cats and dogs.” But further research cites a reference to a Johnathan Swift poem “Descriptions of a City Shower” wherein he discusses the dead animals washed out of drainage systems during a hard rain. I prefer the folk story, thank you very much.

4.  DOG DAYS OF SUMMER. Again, southern folklore had me mistakenly thinking of those hot summer days where those long-eared southern hounds would scramble to find a cool porch to lay under to get out of the sun. Nope, not true. It actually refers to the Sirius, the Dog Star, part of the Canis Major (the Greater Dog) constellation. Its appearance in the northern hemisphere coincides with the sultry heat of late July and early August.

3.  WORK LIKE A DOG. I don’t know about your dog, but my pups pretty much lay around all day. Might bark at the PRIME delivery guy, or a discarded Wendy’s wrapper blowing down the street. I wouldn’t exactly call that “work.” A better term might be “Work like a SHEEP dog,” because that is the bar to which efforts are measured. Those Australian shephards work from sunup to sundown, herding those straggling ewes as they wander from field to field. Now that is work!  

2. DOGGIE BAG. We all know a doggie bag is a way of carrying leftover food from a restaurant home to share with your dog. I mean, who wants to see food wasted? It is, after all, what we do at home anyway, isn’t it? Give the uneaten stuff to the dog. (Well, not the spicy stuff.)  The concept seems to have originated during World War II when people could not afford to waste anything. Credit for making the idea official is given to Dan Stamper’s restaurant in New York city when they issued wax bags with a picture of a dog on the front for the sole purpose of carrying home the steak bones and other things that a dog would enjoy. It even had a poem printed on the bag. “Oh where, or where have your leftovers gone? Oh where, oh where can they be? If you’ve had all you can possibly eat, please bring the rest home to me.” The big question here is, of course, do you actually give the leftover food to your dog? Or do you eat it yourself for breakfast the next morning? (Don’t worry, we won’t tell your dog.)


1. HAIR OF THE DOG. Yup, we’re all familiar with the legendary cure for a hangover—drink more alcohol the next morning. But the medieval origin was literally to apply the dog’s fur to a wound if bitten by a mongrel. This was the only known way to cure rabies. The entire quote is actually, “Hair of the dog which bit you,” which makes sense in that context. It’s not quite as literal when it comes to over-imbibing, but lord knows after a night on the town I’ve often felt like the dog’s breakfast. (That’s one of my least favorite dog-isms, and another topic for another day.)

My research unearthed almost forty dog-isms. What are your favorites?  

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JAYNE ORMEROD grew up in a small Ohio town then attended a small-town Ohio college. Upon earning her degree in accountancy, she became a CIA (that’s not a sexy spy thing, but a Certified Internal Auditor.) She married a naval officer and off they sailed to see the world. After nineteen moves, they, along with their two rescue dogs Tiller and Scout, have settled into a cozy cottage by the sea. Jayne’s publishing credits include two novels, five novellas, and eight short mysteries. A complete list can be found on her website.

Website: www.JayneOrmerod.com

Blog: www.JayneOrmerod.blogspot.com 

Comments

  1. I love the dog-isms. And the true meaning behind them! Thanks for a great article about their history.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Teresa! There are so many more, which proves what an important role dogs play in our lives!

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