I'm just blogging this because I'm interested in the phrase "I’ve got to see a man about a dog," which has its own Wikipedia entry:
To see a man about a dog (or see a man about a horse) is an English language colloquialism, usually used as a way to say one needs to apologize for one's imminent departure or absence – generally euphemistically to conceal one's true purpose, such as going to use the toilet or going to buy a drink.Some people say "I’ve got to see a man about a horse." Another variation is "I've got to see a dog about a man."
The original, non-facetious meaning was probably to place or settle a bet on a racing dog.
Now, I also find it interesting — and this blog runs on interestingness, you know — that earlier in the Corn-Hewitt conversation, Hewitt used another old expression that has a dog in it: "I’ve got no dog in this fight." Maybe that put the dog image in the Corn's head... the head of Corn... the ear of Corn.
"No dog in this fight" has no page Wikipedia. Some people say "No dog in the hunt," but that's denounced as "a bastardization of two Southern idioms: 'no dog in the fight,' and 'that dog won't hunt.'"
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60 comments:
"Corn's head... the head of Corn... the ear of Corn."
Cornhole.
I am Laslo.
All the little boys in my family knew that the proper reply to "I've got to see a man about a dog" was, "Is it a pointer or a setter?"
Apparently there's a website dedicated to idioms and aphorism involving dogs.
My grandfather in the 40's and 50's was found of saying he had to go see a man about a bone in his leg.
We didn't understand. Just a way of saying he needed time away from us?
Those who denounce "no dog in this fight" as a bastardization have too high standards for linguistic pedigree, and fail to understand that there are separate things called "hunting with dogs" and "dog-fights on which people bet."
They're probably not actually from the South, or moved away young, or they're ashamed and never really learnt much about home.
David Corn is trying to cornhole Bill Oreilly.
Mmm . . . corndogs.
It's really sad that journalists (click-bait content generators?) have become the story.
The attention span of most people is limited. Why are we filling it with stories about know-nothing clowns??
In Texas we say "I've got to see a man about a horse" as we leave the room to go pee. We say "that dog won't hunt" for spurious arguments and crappy ideas. And we say "I don't have a dog in that fight" for our non-partisan positions on the spurious arguments (above). I suspect anyone who substitutes "dog" for "horse" in the first saying probably ain't from around here.
""Corn's head... the head of Corn... the ear of Corn." Cornhole."
That's verbatim what I heard here when Meade read my post out loud.
We used "I've got to go shake hands with the mayor"
When news of Bill Clinton's sexual predations became public, some reporter published a story that Bush may quite possibly have had an affair with a foreign service officer several decades earlier. Without commenting on the veracity of that story, you can't equate a single act of adultery with a lifetime of relentless, compulsive womanizing. But, of course, they did. In like manner, you can't compare O'Reilly 's puffery with Williams' grandiosity. But, of course, they will.
David "the Communist" Corn trying to bloviate his way out of Hewitt's way using his corn-pone opinions. Next.
Read most of the transcript - before it got too boring and repetitive.
Corn is a hard core Lefty. He dodged the Hiss question because he spent years prior to release of Verona defending Hiss and sneering at "red baiters" who said Hiss was a spy. So now, he "doesn't know and doesn't care" if Hiss was a spy. LoL.
I hope Hewitt has "Room Service Engberg" on too.
Two partisan hacks arguing about a third.
It always amazes me how in the age of the internet how the MSM still controls the debate and what we think.
Obama has proclaimed Amnesty for illegals by Presidential Diktat, DHS was almost shut down, and yet this whole Corn-O'Reilly kerfuffle has probably got more space in MSM.
BTW, I've never heard anyone use the expression "I've got to see a man about a XXX"
Must be an Old person thing.
"Must be an Old person thing."
As I may have mentioned before, Meade and I have this idea for a blog -- a blog we don't write -- that is in the character of an old man who uses old expressions that few people use anymore. I wish I could remember all the ones we've identified since coming up with this idea, but it's all the things that make you say nobody says that anymore. The one that always springs to mind first for me is: Run it up the flagpole and see if anybody salutes.
"BTW, I've never heard anyone use the expression "I've got to see a man about a XXX"
I hadn't either, actually. Not until Corn. But it was the kind of thing where you know that must be some allusion or expression. I thought it might be a line from a movie. I had to Google to find out.
Women who needed to leave the table to use the bathroom used to say "I need to powder my nose." And the bathroom was frequently called "the powder room."
Urban Dictionary thinks "I need to powder my nose" = "Running to the bathroom for a quick snort of cocaine."
"It always amazes me how in the age of the internet how the MSM still controls the debate and what we think."
The msn controls the internet too except for conservative blogs. I have Yahoo as my home page and Yahoo has lots of misleading headlines that make Republicans look bad and others that are obviously pushing the liberal viewpoint.
I always liked “I told him where the dog died.”
Roughly means: I told that misinformed son-of-a-bitch the unvarnished truth.
What every happened to the old, "Excuse me. I have to piss like a race horse" phrase. Much less mystery to it.
I come from a family of sayings:
"Since god was in short pants" - something that has been around for a while
"I wouldn't know that from Adams housecat" - something that is unknown to the speaker
etc...
Love that stuff.
-XC
Two partisan hacks arguing about a third.
Yes. I clicked over to the transcript. I don't know how anyone could actually listen to that crap---I couldn't even read it, it was so awful.
Great expression to describe a frivolous but annoying activity:
"Keep fucking that chicken."
And if you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch.
Here in Canada, the term, "fucking the dog" refers to lazing around, doing nothing. Once time I was on a course in Atlanta which required me to stay there over the weekend. At the end of the week, as we were packing up for the weekend, one of my cohorts asked me, what are you going to do on the weekend? I responded with - I'm just going to fuck the dog. When I saw the look of shock on his face and everyone else's within earshot, I thought to myself - that must be a Canadian saying.
Betty Grable says it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHa3CTS7Bqo
And who can forget the Great Cornholio
(Beavis and Butthead)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8u5UfpunNI
This blog runs on hilarity.
You had a link to an Eric Partridge's book on catch phrases.
Partridge's work "Origins, a Short Etymological Dictionary of the English Language" is the oldest book that I ever purchased for big money. I have kept it in every move since college. The eye opening experience in word groupings is worth the reading of it for entertainment.
It's an unfortunate name. If he were King Ali, he could command respect. Hemansurate O'Doodle would work. "David Corn" just makes me giggle.
@syd B.
In Canada, if you need to excuse yourself to go laze around and do nothing do you say, "I've got to see a dog about a fuck?"
Del, I grew up in a few places, mostly East Coast, from Florida to Ohio. I use all three phrases just as you do. Never heard "got to see a man about a dog" before.
Reminds me of a joke my dad told. Guy's showing his wonder dog to a prospective buyer. Dog points at a bush, barks 3 times, 3 birds fly out of the bush. 5 barks, 5 birds. Etc.
Guys are discussing price when dog rushes up frantically shaking a stick, then humping the owners leg then shaking the stick. Buyer says I think your dog's gone crazy. Owner says naw, he's just lettin me know there more fucking birds over there than you can shake a stick at.
I listened to the entire Hewitt-Corn interview. From it I learned
1) that David Corn is not as smart as Hugh Hewitt, and
2) that I never want to be cross-examined by Hugh Hewitt.
It is IMHO a very good reason to have Hugh Hewitt do the presidential debates, especially the Democrats. They will not know what hit them.
"Gotta see a man about a horse" is somewhat common here in rural Michigan. I say it now and then.
Never heard the dog version.
Hewitt was hilarious in this interview. Corn bled out before he hung up.
MathMom, Hewitt has already priced himself out of the market for interviews. Nobody dares go against him. It's weird that David Corn did. Most lefties learned years ago not to try. Maybe we can conclude that Corn is uninformed and stupid at the same time.
"I've got to see a man about a horse" -- which I heard growing up in Texas, and in the movies -- or "I've got to see a man about a dog," as the internet seems to think more common, are both allusions to gambling, i.e., to seeing a bookie or going to the dog/horse track, while trying to avoid quite admitting it.
Situationally, its use includes making an excuse for departure for any number of other reasons that might be embarrassing to state explicitly (going to the powder room, or needing to tend to other business best not discussed in detail).
Or so sez I.
I had a temporary injunction case in December in which the sole issue was temporary possession, pending a jury trial, of a horse whose ownership was disputed.
So I got to tell friends and colleagues, to my considerable satisfaction:
"I'm going to see a judge about a horse."
Corn was obviously expecting a drive by interview wherein he would get to spout off against Bill O'Reilly, reinforcing the party line, and then move on. People who have listened to Hugh Hewitt will know that HH's MO is not always your standard radio interview format. He frequently interviews guests for a whole hour and sometimes even all three hours (I think those interviews tend to be with authors and historians).
Anyway, it's not uncommon for him to go through the entire biography of a person in detail before getting to the questions about the topic at hand. David Corn was chafing at that format because it didn't help him spew what he came to spew.
Hugh Hewitt is not always fair and logical in my mind in how he asks his questions but it's hard for me to feel sympathy for the likes of someone who goes out of his way to be unfair from the other side. Regardless of whether David Corn's facts on Bill O'Reilly are correct, I don't think it's unhealthy for Corn to get a taste of the Left's medicine from time to time. That hectoring and bullying that the press reserves for Republicans while ignoring Democratic scandals ought to be thrown in their face from time to time.
This story was obviously a revenge story. Suddenly David Corn is interested in the tales of Bill O'Reilly based on principle? Hah! That alone should get him laughed off the stage.
Hugh Hewitt should have asked him (I didn't finish the transcript so don't know for sure if he did) how much investigative time Mother Jones put into Brian Williams. If he said none, then that's all you need to know. It was a revenge piece, and nothing more. But why should a journalist be out promoting a revenge piece. It's so shamelessly transparent.
>> all the things that make you say nobody says that anymore
"It's a free country."
I haven't heard that one in ages. Sadly.
My dad used to use that term.
Also if my mom spilled food on her breast or I did on my crotch my dad would say, "are you trying to feed them/it"?
I love the women's powder rooms which are in old movies-so glam.
I don't get how anyone would want to listen to those guys.
All day bitching about the other party-doesn't it get exhausting at some point?
Take twice as long to eat half as much.
thank you
@kcom: "Hugh Hewitt should have asked him (I didn't finish the transcript so don't know for sure if he did) how much investigative time Mother Jones put into Brian Williams."
HH never got the chance. Corn fled before he could uncork that one.
HH really gets under the skin of lefties like Corn right from the get-go - by asking that question about Alger Hiss. It's usually a good indicator as to whether the person will be honest and forthcoming in the interview.
When I was in Poland I found that their equivalent of "I've got no dog in this fight" is "Not my circus, not my monkey." It's apparently the punch line of a very old joke.
Bob Ellison -
By "priced himself out of the market", I guess you mean it's too tough to be interviewed by him, and they run scared?
I like that he asks a short, succinct question then lets the person answer. He interrupts if they start to filibuster (which was what Corn did for most of his interview). That is what is needed in these House and Senate hearings, where our elected reps come and bloviate with their opening statements, wasting most of their time, and then verbally abuse the people on the hot seat, but never make them answer questions that should hit them like a punch in the nose.
I would give my eye teeth to hear Hugh Hewitt answer Hillary's "What different at this point does it make???" with "There is no statute of limitations on murder. Now please answer the question", and hammer her until she lies herself into a corner from which she cannot escape. He could do it.
He has "no skin in the game", i.e. no risk of loss.
RonF, chunks is my dog.
Titus: "All day bitching about the other party-doesn't it get exhausting at some point?"
Very strange comment indeed coming from a Lena fan.
"I have to see a man about a dong"
- Sheldon Gold, Porn Producer.
In Australia (according to Finding Nemo), the phrase is "I've got to see a man about a Wallaby."
I've known and used the expression "I've got no dog in that fight" for most of my life, and I ain't country. I've never found anyone who didn't get it.
Thanks, though, for two additions to my stock of expressions:
"Keep fucking that chicken."
"Not my circus, not my monkey."
Now I've got to see a man about a dog.
My father, born in Wisconsin in 1934 and lived here his entire life, used the phrase "I've got to see a man about a horse" to excuse himself to pee.
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