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Friday, October
1, 2004 •
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The Cat’s Out of the Bag—Animal
Sayings Solved! Our lives are peppered with colloquialisms,
phrases and proverbs related to the animal kingdom. Pets are as much
a part of our language as our lives. Either way, you shouldn’t complain.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth. We’ll try not to lead you
on any wild goose chases, or present any red herrings, but sometimes
this information is as rare as hen’s teeth. We wish we could give
you single correct answer, but if wishes were horses, beggars would
ride. So here’s what we know—straight
from the horse’s mouth. Badger: To harass or annoy. Badger
baiting was a sport that involved placing a badger in a barrel, and
then letting dogs drag it out into the open. Barking up the wrong tree: To be
mistaken, or focus on the wrong solution. A phrase with origins in United
States raccoon hunts or possum hunts. The animals will hide in trees,
and occasionally climb from one to another, leaving the dog barking
at the wrong one. A little bird told me: To receive
a secret or clandestine information. This phrase is suspected to have
Biblical origins, as in Ecclesiastes 10:20, which warns "curse
not the king, no not in thy thought, nor curse the rich in thy bedchamber,
for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings
shall tell the matter." Bull by the horns: To tackle a dilemma
head-on. In steer wrestling, the only chance of winning was to grasp
the bull by the horns and throw it to the ground with strength and skill. Shoot the bull: To chat or talk
back and forth. Bulls confined in a pen spend their time bellowing back
and forth in an attempt to announce their presence to one another. Not enough room to swing a cat:
A crowded, tight space. This phrase possibly deals with cruelty to humans,
not animals. Theories say it refers to the cat o’ nine tails, a
pronged whip used for punishment on boats at sea. There wasn’t
enough room below decks to perform the punishment, so it was always
done on the deck. The phrase could also relate to the use of cats that
were swung into the air as targets for archers. Let the cat out of the bag: To reveal
a secret. In medieval times, piglets were taken to markets and sold
in sacks. Occasionally, an unscrupulous vendor would try to pass off
a cat or puppy in a bag as a piglet. If the cat escaped in view of the
potential buyer, so did the secret. Raining cats and dogs: A driving
rain. This ever-popular expression first appeared in print in 1653.
("It shall raine ... dogs and polecats.") No one has a definitive
explanation for where it comes from, but everyone has a theory. Like a chicken with its head cut off:
To act in a frantic and frenzied manner. Chickens will sometimes twitch
and run even after their heads have been chopped off. Cock and bull story: Something not
to be believed. This saying has two possible origins. It could relate
to fables of talking animals, but could also refer to a pair of British
stagecoach inns, the Cock and the Bull. London coaches changed at the
Cock, and Birmingham at the Bull. Passengers would exchange stories
and news at the stops. Crocodile tears: To feign sorrow.
Legend says that crocodiles will cry false tears for their victim. Dog days of summer: The legend is
that it’s too hot at this time of year even for dogs. But the saying
could relate to the dog star Sirius, which rises with the sun in summer.
Romans believed it also gave off heat, and contributed to the warmth
around that time. Hair of the dog that bit you: Warding
off hangovers with a taste of the previous binge’s alcohol. This
relates to an old belief that the hair of the dog that bit a person
could be used to ward off the harm from the bite. Top dog: The boss. The dog on top
in a dogfight is often the winner. But it could also relate to log sawing,
done in a pit with one man in the pit and the other above. The one on
top was known as the top dog, and working on top was easier than working
below. Lame duck: Someone ineffectual.
Dates to a description in a 1771 British play, in which characters "waddle
out [like] lame ducks." It was adopted to describe people who went
into monetary default, and then became an American phrase for politicians
with little time left in their terms. Get your ducks in a row: To complete
a task. This relates to bowling, not fowl. Bowlers would line up ten-pins,
or "duckpins," for the sport. Drink like a fish: To drink excessively.
This one is pretty obvious—fish spend all their time wet. Get your goat: Goats were said to
having a calming influence on other animals, and were kept in barns
or stables. Stealing someone’s goat would therefore supposedly
upset their animals. Goat was also prison slang for angry. Red herring: A false trail. A red
herring is a smoked herring, which has a strong smell. It could be dragged
across a trail to distract the attention of hounds from a fox (by either
poachers or people trying to prolong a hunt) or fugitive. Hogwash: Nonsense and exaggerated
stories. Hogwash was the swill fed to pigs—a watery substance that
contained leftover scraps and perhaps flour, nothing very substantial. Whole hog: Butchers used to ask
whether customers wanted to buy a portion or the "whole hog."
The phrase could also come from a poem by William Cowper, discussing
Muslim dietary customs: "Thus, conscience freed from every clog/Mahometans
eat up the hog." Or it could be related to the fact that "hog"
was slang for a coin. To spend the whole hog was to spend the entire
amount. Never look a gift horse in the mouth:
Don’t be ungrateful when given a gift. You can tell the age of
a horse by its teeth. Checking is sort of like looking for the price
tag on a gift—you could be in for a nasty shock. Dark horse: An unknown quantity.
Some ascribe this to the novel by Benjamin Disraeli, "The Young
Duke." In the tale, the two favorite horses fail to win a race,
as a "dark horse" passes them easily. Legend credits it to
Sam Flynn of Tennessee, who made his living going town to town racing
a black stallion. Gullible locals, unaware they were facing a champion
horse, would agree to race and lose. Hold your horses: Be patient. The
Ringling Bros. claims that this phrase dates back to the days of the
circus street parade, when handlers would shout to the crowds to "Hold
your horses!" because the elephants frightened them. Kitty-corner or catty-corner: Comes
from catercorner, the old dialectical term for diagonal, which itself
comes from the French word "quatre," or four. Buy a pig in a poke: Being cheated.
Buying a pig in a poke, or bag, is obviously not a wise idea when people
are trying to pass off kittens and puppies as swine. Stool pigeon: Traitor. Pigeon trappers
would use tame birds, tied to stools to prevent escape, to lure wild
pigeons near. Smell a rat: To suspect something
is amiss. This relates to dog behavior when encountering a rat scent—whimpering,
whining, and scratching at walls. If no obvious reason presented itself,
people would comment that the dog must have scented a rodent. Black sheep:
A person who fails to fit in with family. Shepherds used to believe
that black sheep disturbed flocks. Black wool was also less valuable
since it could not be dyed. White elephant: A costly item with
little benefit. White elephants were regarded as holy in ancient times
in Thailand and other Asian countries. To keep a white elephant was
a very expensive task, since you had to provide the elephant with special
food and access for people who wanted to come and worship it, and couldn’t
use it for work. If a subject offended the royal family, he might receive
a white elephant. The resulting expense could ruin him. Underdog: One not favored to win.
In dogfights, the dog that ended up on the bottom was about to lose. *Article courtesy of VetCentric.com **Image courtesy of: www.arttoday.com Sources: *Article courtesy of VetCentric.com |
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Published by
Cat Connection. Copyright © 2004 Cat Connection Inc. All rights
reserved.
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