It's not a dog's day

Many expressions in English are not very complimentary to the breed of dogs.

Such hapless creatures these dogs are. Nobody likes to be called by their name. When I thought that our MP Shotgun Sinha is an exception, he compares himself to an elephant and says that “an elephant keeps walking as the dog keeps barking”. I think it is mostly in the Hindi heartland that dogs are sneered at.

In almost all Hindi films we come across the term “kameenay” being used synonymously with a dog (kutta). Again, in Hindi films we have seen villains being threatened that they will die a dogs death (kutte ki maut marega). Does this relate to the practice of stoning a rabid dog to death, I wonder! It is not only in Hindi films that dogs are riled at. Even in Kannada, we use the terms, “the heavens won’t care if a dog barks” and “naayi padu” (a dog’s fate). However, Kannadigas are more tolerant to dogs.

Long ago, when Pakistan and China declared a war on us, our professor
had named his dog “Bhutto”. His neighbour went one step ahead and called his pet ‘Paki’. Another named his dog Chow-en-Lai. When asked the reason, they said that it is the only way they could protest! This practice of naming dogs on people we don’t like still continues. Otherwise, how can we explain dogs named as Hitler, Churchill, Khrushev and Nero? 

I have also wondered why we don’t give our dogs Indian names; we hardly come across names like Gandhi, Nehru, Ashoka, Harshavardhan etc. However, some time back, my friend who was in awe of Tipu Sultan named his Doberman “Tipu”. Not to be outdone, his cousin named his German Shepherd, “Kempegowda”. Fortunately, these names did not create any problem then as people were more tolerant.

Invariably, dogs get named on things the owner likes. I had a friend whose dog was named ‘Old Monk”. Another had named his dog “Whisky”. In fact, Whisky is a very popular name round the world. Naming dogs on ranks in the army, like Major, Captain, General, Brigadier is also common but I am yet to come across names like Air Marshal or Wing Commander though Admiral is common.

Many expressions and idioms in the English language are also not complimentary to the breed of dogs. When we have severe summers we say, “dog days of summer”. When two people fight, we say they are “fighting like cats and dogs”. When a person spoils things, we call him “a dog in the manger”.

When a person is overlooked, we say he is “in the doghouse”. When we see an incorrigible person, we say, “no one can straighten a dog’s tail”. We also call our boss, “the top dog”. If the boss merely shouts but does not harm, we use the expression, “a barking dog never bites”. We also know the meaning of the expression, “going to the dogs”.

We always acknowledge the presence of dogs in our lives. But very few recognise the qualities of the man’s best friend, Syndicate Bank being an exception for having put a dog on its logo. It definitely takes a dog’s perseverance to change things related to dogs.