A Difference of Opinion

Dear WB:

I should first congratulate you on offering a feature article in Writer's Block, The Internet and the English Language by Terence Carter, that promotes thought. So many writing sites on the web are bland landscapes that make no connection to the reader. Mr. Carter connected with me. I wholeheartedly disagree with his opinion, but the mark of good editorship is in finding memorable moving words to print.

Naysayers abound when change occurs. I will simply say that his argument that "this new medium will destroy the integrity of the field" is one I have heard many times in knee jerk reaction to various types of change. He appears to work from several false assumptions, including: that chat and e-mail typify the new writing of the net and web, that Internet users are young and illiterate, and that a loss of skill by the population as a whole has taken place.

Chat and e-mail typify a new type of letter writing — most writing on the web, which is to be taken seriously such as web pages contains reasonable usage. To worry about this is to worry about a temporary phenomena; voice records will soon replace written ones in chat and perhaps in e-mail to a degree. The illiteracy with which he is concerned does not extend to sites. I for one look for reliable information on the web and spelling errors or cute language on a web site make me click away from it with great rapidity.

Net/web users are not just the young. I do not know where he gets that impression.

The population is not losing skill in the use of the English language. Most never had it. It was not there to lose. Transcriptions of typical telephone conversation, which is the mode of communication most reasonably compared to IRC/e-mail, would quickly dissuade Mr. Carter from his opinion that degeneration of the English language is a recent development.

Again, good job on a "real" site with "real" content. I've bookmarked Writer's Block and will continue exploring your site.

Nancy Hill

The Underdog

Dear WB:

I am in search of the origin of the word "underdog." I believe it has something to do with sled dogs and the hierarchical physical mannerisms of the lead dog to literally "stand over" those dogs that challenge him/her. But I cannot find a reference!

How about you?

Thank you in advance,
Mark Hofer

The term underdog may have originated in a popular 19th century song by David Barker. Here are two stanzas of "The Under-Dog in the Fight."

I know that the world, that the great big world
Will never a moment stop
To see which dog may be in the fault,
But will shout for the dog on top.

But for me, I shall never pause to ask
Which dog may be in the right,
For my heart will beat, while it beats at all,
For the under-dog in the fight.

As far as I can discover, it has nothing to do with sled dogs. Sorry.

S. D. Liddiard, Origins Guy

Work Like a Dog and Drunk as a Skunk

Dear WB:

I was wondering if you could help. Where do the phrases "work like a dog" and "drunk as a skunk" come from?

Thanks,
Phil Simborg

I haven't been able to find a specific reference to "work like a dog" that predates Lennon and MacCartney's "Hard Day's Night" (1964), although I am sure there are many. I have found references to "a dog's life" (early 16th century) meaning a life of oppression and "dog tired" (1841) meaning exhausted. Both usages derive from the fact that dogs were the first domesticated animal and were put to work for their human masters right from the start. Their elevation to the status of pampered pet is relatively recent; it began perhaps 150 years ago. In Europe, until early this century, dogs were draught animals as often as horses or oxen. I am currently reading Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men on the Bummel (1900), in which he describes dogs pulling milk carts in Germany. He also describes dogs kept as pets during the same period.

I have been unable to unearth an origin for the expression "drunk as a skunk"; however, I have some ideas about how it came into being. You've heard the expressions "stinking drunk" and "stinko" ("stinking" has been used in English to express disgust since the 15th century). No creature alive is stinkier than a skunk. Because "skunk" rhymes with "drunk," the two words are a natural match. Besides this the skunk is a clumsy animal. If you have ever seen a skunk wander from one garbage can to another, you might think it was inebriated. Despite the natural affinity of the words in this expression, I doubt that it came into existence before the middle of the current century because it has a contemporary sound to me.

S. D. Liddiard, Origins Guy

Mind Your Ps and Qs

Dear WB:

Can you tell me what the origin of the phrase, "Mind your Ps and Qs" is?

Thanks,

Elisa M. Golden

To mind your Ps and Qs means to be very careful and precise. This expression dates back to at least the 19th century, but there its origin is not definitely known. Several theories exist, however. Here are a couple of my favourites:

1. In the early days of printing, when printers had to set type in reverse, apprentices were told to mind their Ps and Qs because it is easy to confuse a lower-case "p" with a lower-case "q" when you look at them backwards.

2. British innkeepers used to have to mind their Ps and Qs when they were totting up monthly beer tabs for their customers — they had to be careful, that is, not to confuse pints and quarts.

S. D. Liddiard, Origins Guy

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