The replacement of the doggy bag

[Joel S. Berson]

At 3/7/2014 12:51 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>On Mar 6, 2014, at 10:04 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>
> > It seemed to me as a child that my grandmother used the word
> "doggy bag" as a euphemism for "a bag for me." (When she had a dog,
> she also used it to mean a bag for the dog.)
> >
> > In my experience, buttressed by asking two people in the
> restaurant industry, people don't really use this expression much
> any more. They ask to get the rest to go.
> >
> > If it's true that this expression is indeed dying out, I wonder
> whether it's because there is a higher level of acceptability in
> society for taking uneaten food home.
> >
> > While looking on Google Images shows that this expression has not
> yet died out, it also shows that the "doggy bag" has taken on the
> meaning of a dog poop bag.
> >
>Wonder if there's a distinction between the doggie bag (take-out
>receptacle from restaurant) and doggy bag (for canine poop).  Just a
>late thought before sleep; please discount if all wet.

I still hear (and use) "doggy bag" occasionally for take-home at
restaurants in the Boston area.  But I must confess I sometimes think
(unappetizingly) of the other context; I think it has taken on that
second meaning.

Joel

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