Wednesday November 21, 2007
Man’s best friend
HERE’S a piece that uses idioms related to “dog”:
THE novel that Tony found in a second-hand bookstore was somewhat worn out; some leaves were dog-eared.
Written by P.S. Buck, it relates the story of a family of dog-poor Chinese farmers who lived in the early 30s.
Tony bought the book and went home to read it. After reading some 20 pages, he felt so dog-tired that he fell asleep.
Then it started to rain cats and dogs.
When he woke up, it was time to take Helen for a dinner party. But when he arrived at her home, she was not yet ready; her hair looked like a dog’s breakfast.
Before she became his girlfriend, Tony had had to contend with a rival for her favours. But there was not a dog’s chance that the rival could win her over; she only had eyes for Tony.
At the dinner party, Helen was the focus of attention. She had put on the dog by wearing an attractive new dress. Tony was the proudest man in the ballroom.
The next day, however, the stock market suddenly plummeted and Tony was left worrying that his investments might go to the dogs.
He told Helen that from now on, he would not be able to afford taking her to posh restaurants and she might have to get used to eating hot dogs instead.
Tony started off his career as a dogsbody of a construction company and rose to become its manager. He started investing some of his money in stocks 15 years ago.
He was good at spotting winners and always made enormous profits. This was the first time in a dog’s age that his investments were in the red.
dog-eared = (of pages) having turned-down edges
dog-poor = very poor
dog-tired = very tired
to rain cats and dogs = to rain heavily
a dog’s breakfast (or dinner) = a mess, untidy
not a dog’s chance = no chance at all
to put on the dog = to show off
go to the dogs = go to ruin
hot dog = sausage in a roll
dogsbody = someone who is forced to do the work nobody wants to do
a dog’s age = a long time
– H.K. Lee, Kuala Lumpur
Source:
RSS
