Last we met here, we talked about the “Dog Days of Summer.” It’s said that dogs are man’s best friend, and certainly dogs have had a major impact on not just man’s evolution, but on the English language.
It occurred to me that we use lots of expressions referring to “dogs.” Usually, these expressions don’t have anything to do with a “dog,” so what’s the deal? Where did these expression come from, do they mean something, or are they just fun to say?
Dog Days refers to the hot, lethargic days of summer. I’ve often heard that it’s “raining cats and dogs,” although as far as i can tell, there are no animals falling from the sky… when we could go to restaurants, we often got a Doggie Bag, even though we don’t have a dog. Sometimes when someone’s out of line, we say he’s gone to the dogs and sometimes it’s just better to let sleeping dogs lie, especially in a dog-eat-dog world. After a wild night out and you feel sick as a dog, sometimes the best cure is the hair of the dog and when you start to recover, you’re often dog tired. I once had a boss that everyone said that his bark was worse than his bite, but I’ve heard that a barking dog never bites, so I’m not sure what to do with that…
Young love is often referred to as puppy love and some people are said to have puppy dog eyes. Supposedly, every dog has its day, but of course to get it you have to work like a dog. Once I got in the dog house for returning a library book that was dog eared. They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks and if you’re a fan of the Browns or Redskins Washington Football Team, you’re very familiar with the term underdog. And a favorite saying on Capitol Hill is, if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.
Well, that’s it — as my dad often, said, I have to go see a man about a dog.
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