Wife's eggcorn

[Douglas G. Wilson]

> > >"I feel like _Dog Chow_!"
> > >
> > >"Dog Chow," is, of course, a registered trademark of the
> > >Ralston-Purina Co.  of St. Louis, my beloved home town. What my wife
> > >is reaching for is, "I feel like dog _shit_!" ....
> >
> > Maybe so.
> >
> > What about "[This place looks like the] dog's dinner"?
> >
> > What about "[Now you're in the] doghouse"?
> >
> > -- Doug Wilson
> >
>
>
>I don't get it. Are you suggesting that what she's actually modelling
>may be, "I feel like the dog's dinner," i.e Dog Chow, or "I feel like
>I'm in the doghouse==>Dog Chow"? It's possible, I guess.

I guess I'm wondering which of these is/are originally euphemistic. For
that matter one might wonder whether "dog-shit" in some usages might be
originally dysphemistic for "dog's dinner" or whatever.

Analogy: I have a casual suspicion [only] that "f*ck the dog" may have
originated as a dysphemism for "walk the dog".

Analogy: What was the thing from which one "can't make chicken salad", in
the earliest version? Was it "chicken scratch", altered to "chicken shit"?
Or the other way around?

-- Doug Wilson