Colloquialism: to see a man about a dog

[Garson O'Toole]

Sometimes it is not easy to determine if a member of this family of
phrases is being used as a colloquialism or as a literal description.
Here is an instance in 1891 of the variant using "horse", I think. The
story excerpted below assumes that the reader is familiar with the
idiom and will understand the joke:

Cite: 1891, Cassell's Family Magazine, A Sharp Experience by Kate
Eyre, Page 111, Column 2, Cassell & Company, Limited, London, Paris &
Melbopurne. (Google Books full view)

  "He called in here quite early this morning on his way to the
station," she is saying. "He is obliged to go up to London on business
to-day."

  "To see a man about a horse," suggests Gracie, with a light laugh.

  "He did not tell me the nature of the business," replies Miss
Cathcart, with the slightest possible access of dignity in her tone.

http://books.google.com/books?id=uKPQAAAAMAAJ&q=%22about+a+horse%22#v=snippet&


Bill Mullins mentioned a variant of the phrase with "mule". In 1893 a
short story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper depicts a major
telling another man a war story detailing "how he charged against
Hooker's forces at the battle of Antietam." The tale is interrupted
when a third man shows up with war injuries and claims that the major
did not participate in the battle of Antietam. The man says that he
was at the battle instead because he was a substitute for the major.
At this point in the short story the major employs the colloquial
phrase with "mule":

Cite: 1893 July 23, Good Stories of the Present Day: Odd Bits of Human
Nature As Seen by M. Quad, [Copyright by Charles B. Lewis], A Major in
a Hole, Page 14, Column 2, Cleveland, Ohio. (GenealogyBank)

We did not even look at each other. We did not know that each other
lived. By and by, when I was wishing that I was at rest in the cold,
damn grave, the major whisperingly observed that he had an appointment
to see a man about a mule and rose up and glided away - glided out
into the quiet night, and I never saw him again.

Garson

On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 12:35 PM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Colloquialism: to see a man about a dog
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Here is my impression from our discussion a few years ago:
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0102D&L=ADS-L&D=0&1=ADS-L&9=A&I=-3&J=on&d=No+Match%3BMatch%3BMatches&z=4&P=4446
>
> There was mentioned a specialized sense (purchasing a gift) which I am
> not personally familiar with.
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
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