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<div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">=========================================================================<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 15 June 2008 - Volume 06<br style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">
<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">-------------------------------------------------------------------------</span><br style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Please set the encoding mode to Unicode (UTF-8).</span><br style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe"><span class="EP8xU" style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Hugo Zweep</span> <span class="lDACoc"><<a href="mailto:Zweep@bigpond.com">Zweep@bigpond.com</a>></span></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe">LL-L "Etymology" 2008.06.15 (04) [D/E]</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="2"><br>Poor dog - In Australia one goes to see a man about
a dog.</font></div>
<div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </div>
<div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="2">Hugo Zweep</font></div><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">----------</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe"><span class="EP8xU" style="color: rgb(91, 16, 148);">Kevin & Cheryl Caldwell</span> <span class="lDACoc"><<a href="mailto:kevin.caldwell1963@verizon.net">kevin.caldwell1963@verizon.net</a>></span></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Subject: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe">LL-L "Etymology" 2008.06.15 (04) [D/E]</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<font size="2"></font><p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">"To see a man about a horse" or "to see a man about a dog" (I'd
never run across the latter variant before now) may have been popularized
during Prohibition, but it is attested as early as 1866, in the play <i>Flying
Scud</i> by Dion Boucicault.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Kevin Caldwell</span></p>
<span>
</span><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span><span style="color: black;">From: R. F. Hahn <</span></span><a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">sassisch@yahoo.com</span></a><span style="color: black;">></span><br>
<span style="color: black;">
Subject: Etymology</span><br><span style="color: black;">
</span><br><span style="color: black;">
Hello, Denis!</span><br><span style="color: black;">
</span><br><span style="color: black;">
It's great to hear from you again.</span><br><span style="color: black;">
</span><br><span style="color: black;">
I don't think any real meaning is intended with phrases like the one you
mention (as also in American English "to see a man about a horse" or
"to see a man about a dog"). They are taboo phrase replacements, the
taboo being explicitness in "polite" company about going to the
bathroom ... uh, toilet. However, since everyone knows what is really meant (as
also in phrases like "to wash one's hand", 'to freshen up" and
"to powder one's nose") people have put comical spins on some of
these phrases, and making them sound nonsensical and thus absurd is part of the
fun.</span><br><span style="color: black;">
</span><br><span style="color: black;">
As for American English "to see a man about a horse" or "to see
a man about a dog," these began during the alcohol prohibition era and
used to have a different meaning: to visit a bootlegger in order to buy liquor.
So these mean "I will be absent for a while," and this was later
transferred to the meaning of "I am about to visit the bathroom."</span><br><br></div></div><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
•
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