But maybe I have it completely wrong. Let's see.
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Oh, man--not the British Royal Navy again! But yes, a dogsbody is a junior officer in this military force, and by extension a person who does the grunt work. Apparently, peas and eggs boiled in a bag together were a staple of the early 19th century British navy. It wasn't exactly caviar, and, as is the way with the offensive, soon enough becomes a descriptive noun for someone you intend to disparage. 'Sack of shit', for instance. No one seems to know how the unloved staple got the name dogsbody, though some think it was the shape of the bag. In any case, as pejoratives do, it managed to outgrow its naval usage and become a general term for, yes, a gofer, in Britspeak around the 1930s.
As witness:
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Oh, I do love learning the words from you. And that sweet sad dog. I do not yearn for peas and eggs in a bag.
ReplyDeleteWell, it does sound pretty nutricious, but I've never been very partial to peas myself. Although for those who do, my mother apparently made a pretty mean split pea soup.
ReplyDeletev word= uprip, which sounds very energetic
I've never heard the term dogsbody, but I do love the Lab picture.
ReplyDeleteV word- tuffshid - it's a typo, the "d" should be a "t"
Ah, dogsbody -- another one I've always liked.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that dog is cocking its head to one side because it knows this will make a favorable impression on humans?
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Glenna, tuffshid is excellent.
ReplyDeletePeter, yes, I'm pretty sure that dogs have our number. Big time. but then all enslaved peoples do learn to read their masters.
Darwin’s evolutionary theory was largely inspired by his dog, if the opening of The Descent of Man is to be believed. Not only that, I bet the little guy was adorable, too.
ReplyDelete======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter, I haven't read that opening, but I'd like to.
ReplyDeleteThe little tyke probably did all the grunt work for Darwin too. The homo sapiens in the room of course gets all the credit, as per usual.
Apparently when Darwin returned after five years aboard the, er, Beagle, his dog recognized him and greeted him with enthusiasm. This got Darwin thinking about moral sensibility and about how animals and humans might not be so different after all.
ReplyDeleteI have had the experience at the home of a Massachusetts friend I visit once or twice a year of one of the dogs always dragging out the same toy for a game of tug o' war with me. But I don't think I'll revolutionize mankind's conception of itself the way Darwin did. I'm not high enough on the evolutionary ladder to do that.
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I had an odd experience with a Golden Lab once. She was my housemates' dog, and in the social hierarchy of the household, I think she pretty much outranked me. But I liked her and she liked me. I moved out of the house, and some months later, I was at the library and saw a dog tied up outside. I did a kind of doubletake and she did too. It was strange how we were both completely out of context and yet knew each other. It was sad, really, because she obviously had missed me and there was no way to explain to her why I had suddenly vanished from her life.
ReplyDeleteI hope you tried to explain things to her.
ReplyDeleteOf course.
ReplyDeletePerhaps she was happy to see you.
ReplyDeleteAre dogs capable of a sense of resignation?
She was thrilled to see me, which is what made it so sad.
ReplyDeleteBut as for a sense of resignation, yes, they have that down too.
Cool word. Never encountered it before. And you're right, Seana, the dogs have got our number.
ReplyDeletev word: resorse. A phonetic spelling of corporate speak?
-B
Yes, I should say somewhere that this is mostly a British word, but anyone who has ever watched Blackadder may recognize the wikipedia claim that Baldrick is a dogsbody.
ReplyDeleteI may have seen or heard the word more than some because I've read a lot of British fiction and watched a lot of British television.
Interestingly, just as I was writing this I heard John Bolton refer to Obama's speech as the "dog's breakfast". The dogly pejorative lives on! Even though, compared to humankind, dogs are saints.
"Resorse" as corporate speak could actually be resources, or assets, and then again, re-source, as in 'we find the possibility of exploiting China's labor more valuable than that of India's, so let's resorse".
It would be a bit remiss of me not to mention here that one of the things that came up a lot in the course of researching this post was the novel of children's author Diane Wynn Jones called Dogsbody. Although I haven't read a lot of her books, I've liked the few I have quite a lot, and hope to read this one. Sadly, she died this weekend after a second bout of cancer. It seems appropriate to mention her name here and I do plan to read this novel in particular before too long.
ReplyDelete