Book Review - You're My Dawg, Dog: a Lexicon of Dog Terms for People

by Donald Friedman with illustrations by J.C. Suarès 

I would say I was as happy as a clam while reading You're My Dawg, Dog, but a dog with two tails fits the bill better. As a person who loves playing with words almost as much as I love playing with my dog, I had a feeling I would enjoy this book when I opened it to this wonderful  introductory paraprosdokian and its adorable accompanying illustration:

Outside of a dog,

a book is man's best friend.

Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

- Groucho Marx

The book continued to entertain throughout with over 140 canine-based terms, metaphors, idioms and proverbs, and numerous charming illustrations. Having written my master's essay in a large part about animal metaphors, I was surprised that the book even included several terms and expressions that were new to me. Here are a few that I enjoyed:

Doggo (adv) To be still and quiet (lying like a dog) in concealment. "Herb and Sally, nearly caught in flagrante delicto, lay doggo in the thick foliage until the other guests had passed by."

Dog shelf (n) The floor in sarcastic usage. "Hang it on the dog shelf, Herb!' Sally yelled to him indicating that he should throw his coat on the floor, as was his habit."

Why keep a dog and bark yourself? Don't arrange for a task to be accomplished by another and then do it yourself - that's the message of this ancient proverb, found in a 1583 treatise.

In addition to definitions, the book also includes numerous etymologies and several amusing quotes from famous individuals.

Overall, I would call You're My Dawg, Dog a delightful romp in a doggy word park. And Stanley agrees too. Here he is reading his already dog-eared copy.

Illustrations © 2013 J.C. Suarès. www.welcomebooks.com/dawg

Reborn Metaphors

Metaphors are usually classified as either living or dead, though it is often hard to distinguish the difference as language is constantly changing. A metaphor is said to die when its figurative meaning becomes accepted as part of the standard lexicon of a particular language. However, one of the aspects of language change is that the meaning of metaphors can be extended to take on new meanings; therefore, even a metaphor that is thought to be dead can be reborn with a new extended meaning. An example of this rebirth is demonstrated by the metaphoric extension of clotheshorse. A clotheshorse was originally an object that physically resembled a horse in its framework and functioned to hold clothing; however, through metaphoric extension clotheshorse came to be interpreted as a person who habitually wears or shows off clothing.