Animal Expressions: The Dog and The Ass

The dog symbolizes many different things in English.  At times, depending on the context, one meaning contradicts the other.  to bee a dog  can be either a compliment or insult.  One’s dogs can either mean one’s men, friends or feet.   To call someone a dog could either mean, if one is a male, that you are a scoundrel, (vulgar) bastard, a double-dealer, a good-for-nothing, buddy, (British) mate, (Scot.) marrow, like one’s brother, (Aust.) informer or rat, (Black slang) brutal policeman. In British English, a dog is someone who is always begging for cigarette ends.  In Cockney rhyming slang, a dog, short for a dog and bone, is a phone. 

 If the dog is a car it is a lemon.  A lemon is a car which is constantly breaking down.  If a woman is called a dog; that woman is being insulted, big time.  In American English, in reference to food,  dog is a hot dog while in Australian English, a dog is a general term for food or a drinking debt.  For the British, (Yorkshire), a dog is a small pitcher of beer.  There are dozens of proverbs and sayings about dogs in American, British and Australian English.  Many of the sayings have been translated from other languages.  These proverbs along with proverbs from British, Scottish and Australian English, when necessary, have been translated into American English.  The following are a few examples: (Scot.) The foremost hound grips the hare (The early bird catches the worm); dead dogs don’t bite; (Latin) He who wishes to beat a dog, easily finds a stick; (British) Dogs fawn on a man no longer than he feeds them; (British) If you whish a dog to follow you, feed him; (French) To a bad dog, a short leash, (British) When a dog is drowning, everyone offers him water.    
Although not as many expressions as the dog or house, the ass has quite a number.  There are at least fifty.  The ass is one animal whose symbol seems to be consistent not only throughout English but in other languages also.  symbolizes many different things in English.  Wylcomenetwork.com has available istudycards of some of the most frequently-used and familiar animal expressions in the English language.  In this packet on the ass,, each card contains the animal expression and, whenever possible, the author, date and country of origin of the expression is also presented.  The following are several examples: 1732, Thomas Fuller, England, When an ass climbs a ladder, we may find wisdom in a woman; 1620 Shelton (Quixote ii), Spain, An ass endures his burden, but not more than his burden; 1668 La Fontaine, France, Clad in a lion’s shaggy hide, An ass spread terror far and wide; 1856 Charles Cahier, Italy, He who is an ass and thinks himself a deer, When he tries to leap the ditch, his error will be clear;  1584 Withals, England, By their wordes we know fooles, and asses by their eares; 1678, John Ray (English Proverbs), England, Better to be the head of an ass, than the tail of a horse.     It should be noted that in American English, the term ass is for the animal as well as the vulgar term for the buttocks or derrière.   In British English, the name for the animal and that of the body part are two different words in spelling, although not in pronunciation.  In British English, the animal is spelt ass but the spelling of the obscene term is arse.
Wylcomenetwork.com has available istudycards of some of the most frequently-used and familiar animal expressions in the English language.  Each card contains either an animal expression.  In this packet expressions on the dog  is accompanied by its meaning in more standard, less idiomatic, English.  istudycards  Animal Expressions: The Dog and The Ass  were developed to help you learn some of the most frequently-used idioms and slang expression with the word dog and ass