I am home from the office today, sitting around in my sweats, sniffling, coughing and aching. My eyes are so watery, I can't quite see clearly. Yes, I'm a lovely sight.
So I wrote my daughter an e-mail in which I told her that I was sick as a dog today. Somewhere in the back of my clogged head came the nagging question of where that expression started. After sneezing all over my keyboard ( note to family members- stay away from the computer today) I did an Internet search on the term.
While not as exciting as some of the expression that have biblical roots, the expression just seems to be one of many involving dogs. For some reason, perhaps their constant proximity to humans and our constant observation of their behavior, we've developed idioms for one extreme, "living a dog's life" to the other, yes, "sick as a dog."
Apparently, we are so well acquainted with canines, that we are often witnesses to instances of doggy sickness - mostly of the vomit type, mostly caused by their "eat first - figure out what it was later" attitude. Cats too are capable of vomit, but for some reason, "sick as a cat" doesn't invoke the same picture. And "sick as a horse" just doesn't work, because for some reasons, horses cannot physically throw up.
So what did I learn from all this exhaustive and frankly, disgusting research? Technically, today, I am NOT sick as a dog. Not in the strict sense of the origin of the expression being based in dogs' frequent gastrointestinal adventures.
No, I'm just coughing, sneezing, aching and feeling miserable. Quite possibly, I may have a frog in my throat.
Now, where did that expression come from?
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