My Dogs are Barking

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

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Hello, who is this?

Hi, you’re really happy.

Hey.

Yeah, I’m excited to talk to you guys.

My name is William. I’m from Austin, Texas. And I think I got a good one for you guys.

All right, let’s hear it.

Lay it out.

Okay, so I work in the film industry here. And I was on a set a couple months ago. And it was after a really long day. And we were all chilling out afterwards. And I sat down and I said, oh, man, my dogs are barking. And I started taking my shoes off. But everyone looked at me like they didn’t know what I was talking about. And I’ve grown up in Texas my whole life, and I’ve said my dog’s barking, which means your feet hurt as far as I know. But I don’t know why that is a phrase they’re saying, and I was hoping you guys could shed some light on that.

A little bit.

A little bit of light we can shed on dogs.

Okay.

All right. So we’ve got to separate the two words, the dogs and the barking, because the dogs came first. As early as 1913, dogs were slang for feet. And it actually popped up in the work of a well-known cartoonist called Tad, or T.A. Dorgan, who did cartoons for some New York newspapers. And he’s got various connections to various etymological histories. He’s apparently widely read and widely appreciated and had a great sense of humor. But the first use that I know of was in one of his cartoons. And then it caught on. It starts to pop up in jazz songs and ragtime songs and again and again and again. And even now, I use it. I used it just last week, much to the mystification of one of my friends.

Did you?

Yeah.

I know the feeling.

Yeah, they put their feet up, and I’m like, oh, I’ve got to arrest those dogs. And they’re like, what? They’re just giving me that blind. Yeah, one guy was like, why are your dogs barking? I don’t actually have dogs. It’s my feet, you guys. And so after the slang term for dog existed, slang for feet, people made the extra joke of their dogs barking, meaning that they were begging for some attention.

-huh.

Right? That’s it, man. That is no more complicated than that. Although I should point out what’s really interesting. It did for a while there. It’s less common now. It also took on the meaning of shoes, not just the feet, but dogs could mean your shoes.

Gotcha. Well, I also was wondering, because I’ve grown up in Texas my whole life,

So this sounds like it’s all over then.

That’s right.

It’s not just like I’m, you know, some weird.

Well, you may be, but it is all over also.

Well, Austin is weird, right? And you’re going to keep it that way.

Yeah, we keep it that way.

Okay, awesome.

Well, I’m happy to know that I’m not crazy.

No.

It’s actually me.

All right.

No.

Thanks, William. Appreciate it.

Get some rest, William.

What are you working on? What film are you working on, by the way? You have to tell us.

Oh, well, I have another feature coming up. It’s going to be a three-week low budget, but that’s all I can say. I can’t give you any more of that.

Oh.

Well, when it’s live, send us a link, and we’ll take a look at it, all right?

Well, thank you. I appreciate the time.

All right.

Cheers.

Good luck.

Bye, William.

Have a good one.

Bye.

Take care.

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