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Nov, 21, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?

Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank

Nov, 20, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness

The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto

Nov, 19, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality

Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?

Nov, 18, 2008

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason

Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?

Nov, 17, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason

Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?

Nov, 14, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia

Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead

Nov, 13, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic

The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla

Nov, 12, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers

Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks

Nov, 11, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?

Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate

Nov, 10, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?

Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist

Nov, 7, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality

Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy

Nov, 6, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism

The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes

Nov, 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors

Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie

Nov, 4, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law

Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East

Nov, 3, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?

Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything?

Oct. 31, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Our Immutable Noble Essence

Caroline B. Glick: Running against Bush

Oct. 30, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: The End of the Special Relationship?

Steve Lipman: 'Kid Kosher' Gets A Title Shot

Oct. 29, 2008

Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: GET US THE TAPE THE L.A. TIMES REFUSES TO RELEASE, AND WE'LL GIVE YOU CASH!

Dr. Ari Korenblit: Making The Write Choice for President

Oct. 28, 2008

Mona Charen: Denial runs through American Jewry

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Sell-off to capitalism or sell-out to Islam?

Oct. 27, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Are tax deductions for charitable donations moral?

Jonathan Mark: The Mystery Of The Arab-American Vote

Oct. 24, 2008

'Why aren't all religious people vegetarians?': Response by Miriam Kosman

Caroline B. Glick: Testing Obama's mettle

Oct. 23, 2008

Daniel Pipes: Obama Would Fail Security Clearance

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A fast chicken dish with an Asian accent

Oct. 20, 2008

Gary Rosenblatt: Still One Torah

Jonathan Tobin: Government 'Gifts' Are Not Free

Oct. 17, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Sukkos and the Great Meltdown

Caroline B. Glick: The disappearance of law

Oct. 16, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Copying DVDs: RIP OR RIPOFF?

Cal Thomas: Blaming the Jews (again)

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Jan. 18, 2007 / 28 Teves, 5767

Putting on the Dog

By Richard Lederer

Bill O'Reilly
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | We nearing the end of 4704, the Chinese Year of the Dog, a good time to explore the presence of dogs in our language and our lives.


The word dog trots, prances and scampers through our marvelous English language. We call a tenacious person a bulldog, a showoff a hot dog, a fortunate person a lucky dog, a man with an active social life a gay dog who puts on the dog ("makes a flashy display") and a rapscallion or cur a dirty dog. A dominant person is a top dog who can run with the big dogs, while his counterpart is an underdog. Some of us lead a dog's life going to the dogs in the doghouse. Others are young pups in puppy love.


Dogs were originally domesticated for their usefulness in hunting, herding and keeping watch. It may be difficult to "teach an old dog new tricks," but dogs have in fact been trained to perform highly skilled tasks, such as turning a spit holding meat over an open fire, guiding the blind, acting as companions for the disabled and sniffing out illegal drugs.


Unquestionably, one of their most endearing characteristics is faithfulness to their owners, which has made dogs valued companions as well. As long ago as 1150, the learned St. Bernard of Clairvaux said, Qui me amat, amat et canem meam." That translates to "Love me, love my dog" — an expression of unconditional affection that reposes in many languages.


Other canine proverbs yip and bark across centuries, In the early 19th century in American English, barker came to signify the person who stands outside a carnival or circus to shout (bark) out its attractions to passersby. From the same period in America arose the expression "to bark up the wrong tree," from hunting dogs that mistakenly crowd around the base of a tree thinking they have treed a raccoon that has actually taken a different route. The phrase is still used to mean wasting one's efforts and energies by pursuing the wrong path.


In Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th century tale of Troilus and Creseyde, the poet writes, "It is nought good a sleping hound to wake," which comes down to us as "Let sleeping dogs lie." The title of my grammar-usage book puns on that proverb: Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay (and That's No Lie).


Another expression derived from literature is, believe it or not, "in the doghouse," which means out of favor with the powers that be. The first appearance of this phrase occurs in the James Barrie play Peter Pan. Mr. Darling, the father of the three children, is punished for his shabby treatment of Nana, the Newfoundland dog, who is also the children's nurse. And where does he spend his exile? In Nana's doghouse, of course.


A three-dog night is not only a popular music group of the 1970s, but a night so cold that one must sleep with three dogs in order to generate enough body heat to be comfortable.


"Dog eat dog" dates back from the 16th century, even though Marcus Teretius Varro in 43 B.C.E. reminded us that "Canis caninam non est" — "Dogs are not cannibals." Even older is the proverbial "dog in a manger," from an Aesop's fable written around 570 B.C. E. about a snarling dog who prevents horses from eating their corn, even though the dog himself doesn't want it.


In the days of the Romans, the six or eight hottest weeks of the summer were known colloquially as caniculares dies, or "days of the dog." The Romans believed that, during the period roughly from July 3 to August 11, the dog star Sirius rose with and added its heat to the sun, making it the hottest time of year.


Here's something I'll bet you didn't know: The Canary Islands were named after the large dogs (canes grandes) found there. Those familiar yellow songbirds, also native creatures thereabout, were named after the islands, rather than the other way around.


Hey, I could talk about dogs in our language until the last dog is hung. Here the reference is to the dirty dog of the human species who rustled your cattle, and the "hung" is to the vigilante lynchings known as "necktie parties" in the early West. Nowadays the expression most often points to the inevitable two or three people at every cocktail party who hand around everlastingly — until the last dog is hung and the host shows them to the door.


Dogs have inspired some of the most clever and luminous quotations in the Bartlett's collections. Here are a dozen of my favorites, which I dedicate to Bart and Mike, our sprightly and companionable black Lab mixes:

  • If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a man and a dog, — Mark Twain

  • The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. — Andy Rooney

  • Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. — Ann Landers

  • If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went. — Will Rogers

  • In Vic Lee's comic strip "Pardon My Planet." St. Peter says, "Pearly Gates are no big deal. It only became heaven after we added the doggy door."

  • There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. ~ Ben Williams

  • A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. ~ Josh Billings

  • We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made. ~ M. Acklam

  • We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance palnet and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us. — Maurice Maeterlinck

  • Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. ~ Roger Caras

  • The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too. -- Samuel Butler

  • My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog thinks I am. — Unknown

  • Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. — Groucho Marx

  • Near this spot are deposited the remains of one who possessed Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, and all the Virues of Man, without his Vices. This praise, which would be unmean Flattery if inscribed over human ashes, is but a just tribute to the Memory of Boastswain, a Dog. — George Gordon, Lord Byron

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Richard Lederer Archives

JWR contributor Richard Lederer is a language maven. More than a million of his books, which have been Book-of-the-Month Club and Literary Guild alternate selections, are in print. His latest work is Richard Lederer's Anguished English 2007 Calendar: Bloopers And Blunders Comment by clicking here.


© 2007, Richard Lederer

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