Colloquialism: to see a man about a dog

[Laurence Horn]

At 7:43 AM -0400 6/16/11, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 6/16/2011 04:10 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
>>On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 1:12 PM, Laurence Horn
>><laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>>>  I remember it as "see a man about a horse."
>
>IIRC, Larry grew up in NYC.

Right.  Idle speculation:  "see a man about a dog" *could* have been
taken literally, but *see a man about a horse* almost certainly
couldn't have been.  (Yes, there were some police horses around,
but...)

And I only remember hearing it to euphemize a bathroom visit, not for
taking one's leave to enjoy a drink or a romantic dalliance.

LH

>As did I, but I remember it as "dog".
>
>Joel
>
>>As do I. FWIW, only in Saint Louis, used in front of the ladies and
>>the chirren by men of my parents' age. We masculine children used
>>"take a leak," as our elders most likely did, too, when out of earshot
>>of childring and ladies.
>>
>>OTOH, I didn't learn "take a _dump_" till I was in the Army.
>>
>>Horse-drawn milk trucks, junk wagons, and other such vehicles were
>>common of the streets till some time After The War.
>>
>>--
>>-Wilson
>>-----
>>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
>>to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>-Mark Twain
>>
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>
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