Sarah Gibbard Cook
  • Home
  • About
  • Writing
  • Contact

What’s Sick About Dogs?

11/28/2022

9 Comments

 
Picture
Inspiration doesn’t bubble up when you’re sick as a dog. Granted, my current bug is respiratory, not gastrointestinal as the phrase might suggest, but even so—why dogs? Do they get sicker than the rest of us, or more often?

“Sick as a dog” is said to go back at least to 1705, though I haven’t found the reference yet. Oxford English Dictionary, anyone? According to the OED, early phrases and proverbs smeared dogs as vicious, miserable working beasts that spread disease.

​Who doesn’t love a good origin story? We thirst to know how a word, phrase, belief, cultural practice, or epidemic began. When evidence runs out, make something up. It stretches the imagination and generates hypotheses to explore. Just remember to distinguish evidence from speculation or hypothesis, to avoid getting mired in conspiracy theories not fit for a dog.
9 Comments
Pat Groenewold
11/28/2022 09:28:39 am

This hits me right in my greatest addiction --- words! Although I enjoy the ease with which Google caqn provide the answer to a question, settle a friendly disagreement about the facts of this or that, I do miss the the adventure of looking up a wore or bit of history or science or whatever in a dictionary or encyclopedia...there are so many other interesting byways to explore on the way to an anwer in books that are completly missing in electronic research.

Reply
Sarah Cook link
11/28/2022 07:26:13 pm

My addiction too, as I think you know! I actually have the hard-copy version of the OED here, the two-volume version with tiny tiny print and a magnifying glass, and tried finding "sick as a dog" there but failed. Still suspect it may be there, hidden amidst the tiny print - but this edition was clearly designed for younger eyes than mine.

Reply
Dennis Doren
11/29/2022 07:41:50 am

The phrase seems to reflect the animal but that is not its derivation. In ancient times, "the dog" was the worst throw in dice. Over time, "the dog" became synonymous with anything particularly bad, a slang meaning that still exists (think: a scoundrel, or ugly woman or "the dog days of summer"). Being "sick as a dog" reflects another such application.

Having said that, I will now tell you that I made up the parts above starting with "Over time...", using a few historical elements to support my lie. I guess I'm a real dog...

Reply
Sarah Cook link
11/29/2022 05:07:59 pm

Love this! When you reach the limits of your evidence, make something up. Is "the dog" being the worst throw in ancient dice true? One could say that's the origin of dogs' long negative reputation, or a reflection of it, or simply an example. I still find it odd to think dogs evolved from wolves for their friendliness to humans and nevertheless had such a bad rap.

Reply
Sarah Cook link
11/29/2022 05:10:39 pm

As for dog days of summer, I think it's from astrology.

Dennis Doren
11/29/2022 07:36:11 pm

The part about dog being a description of the worst dice throw in ancient times is reportedly true (meaning I got it from an internet source). Maybe, just maybe, this is the source of at least a lot of the negative phrases related to dogs. And the phrase the "dog days of summer" is related both to the "dog" star (Sirius) and the hottest and most humid days of late summer. I think the relationship is that Sirius rises above the horizon at that time of year, and the particularly uncomfortable weather associated with that time of years became associated with that astronomic event.

Sarah Cook link
11/30/2022 07:25:24 am

For all the modern appreciation of dogs as man's (sic) best friend, we still have "bitch" and "son of a bitch" as super negatives. And I can't think of ways today's warm fuzzies about dogs have made it into our language, though surely there must be some.

Reply
Dennis Doren
11/30/2022 07:39:26 am

I guess we could debate if "puppy love" is a positive thing, or a belittling way of describing young people's feelings. (I can tell you I took it as discounting my feelings at age 10 when my mother told me that was what I was experiencing concerning my first crush.) But maybe the phrase "a dog is a man's best friend", which seems to be suggesting that dog's loyalty and constant willingness to comfort its owner is a great thing, fits the "positive" requirement you seek. Then again, maybe this phrase just means that men can't relate well enough to other people...

Reply
Sarah Cook link
12/1/2022 08:16:38 pm

The "best friend" notion conjures up a dog's nonjudgmental, unconditional affection, though surely that assumes we treat the dog decently in the first place. Perhaps other people more often notice our flaws. I've see the suggestion, "Be the person your dog thinks you are."

Puppy love? Definitely belittling!




Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I'm a historian who writes novels and literary nonfiction. My home base is Madison, Wisconsin. 

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    RSS Feed


      ​get updates

    Sign up
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Writing
  • Contact