expressions that mention dogs

Working Like a Dog

In another blog post, I mentioned some expressions that included cats, but that didn’t actually have anything to do with cats. The same is true for dogs. In fact, there are a lot of expressions that mention dogs that may or may not have anything to do with dogs.

For example, if someone is working very, very hard, you may say that he or she is working like a dog. Are dogs known for working hard? I’m not sure. One thing I do know is that Jeff works like a dog to produce podcasts each week.

Other expressions that mention dogs make a little more sense. If you want to leave things alone, to not bother someone or something because you are afraid of a bad result, you can say that you want to let sleeping dogs lie. If a dog is sleeping, you may not want to bother it because if it wake up, it may bark or bite. (Lie, in this case, means to recline your body so that it is straight (not sitting or standing).) So you may hear a conversation like this one:

Lucy: When will the boss give us a raise (more money for working)? I’m going to ask her.
Jeff: If I were you, I would let sleeping dogs lie. With this bad economy, we are just as likely to get a pay cut (reduction) as a pay raise!

Here’s another that makes some sense. If you want people to stop attacking or criticizing you, you can say, “Call off the dogs!” To call off means to stop or to cancel something. If one presidential candidate (someone who is officially trying to become the next president) criticizes the other for his/her past decisions, he/she might say, “Call off the dogs or we will start talking to the media about your family and your personal life.”

There are other dog-related expressions, but I don’t want to make the cat-lovers jealous.

~ Lucy -ESL Podcast Blog-