"black as Caesar's tail"

[Jonathan Lighter]

FWIW, "Caesar" was a name not infrequently given to dogs in the 19th C.  "Caesar," "seizer," get it ? Get it ?

  Perh. cf. the phr., "since Hector was a pup."

  JL

Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
Subject: Re: "black as Caesar's tail"
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On 4/10/07, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
>
> Just a guess: Maybe the expression referred to "Black
> Caesar's tale," with "tale" later misinterpreted as "tail."

Sounds like an old wive's tail.


--Ben Zimmer

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