Colloquialism: to see a man about a dog

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:56 AM -0400 6/16/11, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 6/16/2011 11:33 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>At 11:23 AM -0400 6/16/11, George Thompson wrote:
>>>My father was born in Brooklyn in the early 1890s.
>>
>>Mine too, only it was the late 1890s.  I don't remember him seeing a
>>man about either a dog or a horse though, or at least not in so many
>>words.  In fact I can't remember who I heard actually using the
>>expression.  Might have been someone(s) in a movie or TV show, in
>>which case my NYC background would be of limited relevance.
>
>I can't be sure, but probably from one or more of my (NYC) uncles,
>and if so would probably have been before 1956 or so.
>
>Joel

Aha, that could have been the source for me as well.  I'll try to
remember to ask my aunt if she remembers my Brooklyn-raised uncle
(died at 90 last year so I can't ask him) going off to see those men
about those quadrupeds, and for what actual purpose.

LH

>>
>>>Ca. 1950 he would use
>>>"see a man about a dog" at least sometimes to mean that he was going to
>>>leave my mother and me to find a bar and have a beer.
>>>
>>>GAT
>>>
>>>On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 7:43 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> 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.  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
>>>>>
>>>>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>
>>>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>George A. Thompson
>>>Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ.
>>>Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org