1. Being sick as a dog
When you're bedridden, with a dull fever and nasty pains that prevent you from getting up or doing anything, you say you're sick as a dog.
This expression is even more common to designate a specific ailment, that of indigestion: we will use this formulation to modestly say that we have had our stomach upset while eating something or suffering from motion sickness.
The origin of this phrase is unclear.
What we know for certain is that the word “dog” had a very pejorative connotation in the past, even being used as an insult or a degrading term.
This is probably sufficient to explain the origin of the formulation, which is similar to that of the expressions “un mal de chien” or “un character de chien”.
Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent
By clicking on "
I ACCEPT
", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners
I ACCEPT
And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.
More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.
2. Looking at each other like earthenware dogs
To look at each other like earthenware dogs is to gaze at each other, to look at each other for a long time and fixedly, without saying a word, without moving.
There is in this expression an impression of mistrust, or defiance, between the two animals or the people to whom they refer.
And yet, the earthenware dogs from which this expression originates have no particular animosity for each other.
In fact, they are decorative objects with which we adorned libraries or fireplaces.
Two representations of seated earthenware dogs were often placed there, in profile, for the sake of symmetry.
The two dogs seemed to face each other and look into each other's eyes, which after a while could evoke the behavior of distrust and defiance that is referred to today with this expression.
3. The weather is bad
When it's a wind to dehorn the oxen, a cold of duck and that it rains cats and dogs, one says that it is a dog's weather.
And come to think of it, it may seem strange to associate this animal with such bad climatic conditions, because it does not derive any particular benefit from it, unlike snails for example.
So why the hell link the dog to bad weather?
As with other expressions of the same type, this could simply be because adding “of dog” to a word immediately gives it a negative qualification, because of the poor image that the dog once suffered from.
We can also imagine that domestic dogs, who were condemned to live outside whatever the weather, were the only creatures left outside during the worst weather episodes.
Find the magazine "Le Monde des Animaux" on newsstands and on monmag.fr (paper and digital versions, and subscriptions).
The World of Animals & Nature
is a magazine dedicated to wild fauna and flora from around the world.
Through captivating stories and sublime photographs, the magazine offers a real visual safari in the heart of nature.
Hobbies
Detection dogs: heroes in the shadows
Hobbies
The Square of the Cat, from Ancient Egypt to the French Revolution
Minute Animals
Animals
Dog
Expression
French language
Hobbies