Dog in the Manger

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi.

Hello, who’s this?

This is Marsha, and I’m from Traverse City, Michigan.

Hey there, Marsha. How are you doing?

Hey, Marsha. How are the cherries there?

You know all about our little town, huh?

Well, not all about it. We’d love to visit it sometime.

And eat the cherries.

Yeah.

It’s my favorite fruit.

What’s on your mind? What can we help with?

Well, I was on the phone the other day with a girlfriend talking and just, you know, chatting away as girls do.

And I used the phrase, it just popped in my head, don’t be a dog in the manger.

And she said, what?

What are you talking about?

And I couldn’t answer her because I don’t remember what that was all about.

But my mother used it several times when we were growing up.

And I think she was trying to teach us to share, to not be so greedy.

That’s all I remember about it.

But I don’t know where it came from or how it came about.

So you were telling your friend not to be greedy?

What was she doing?

I think so.

What was she doing?

She was grabbing a bunch of cherries.

I’m quite outspoken.

Was she, like, taking something that she wasn’t sharing?

No, I don’t really remember the whole gist of the conversation.

But she was kind of surprised, and I was more surprised.

We’re real good friends, so we can say just about anything, you know.

But we were just chatting, and she said, where did that come from?

And I stopped and paused, and I said, gee, I don’t know.

Yeah.

And I think maybe shortly after that I was listening to the radio on your program,

And I jotted down the number.

It’s been on the refrigerator door for a couple days, and so I thought of calling.

Well, here we are.

Yeah, we’re glad you did.

Well, you know, that story about a dog in the manger goes all the way back to ancient Greece.

There’s an old story about a dog that climbs into a manger, and you know what that is.

That contains the hay for the horses to eat out of.

Right.

And the dog climbs into the manger in a kind of spiteful way and doesn’t let the horses come and eat the hay, even though the dog doesn’t want the hay.

It doesn’t eat hay.

But it’s just sort of like the idea of, you know, I don’t want it, but you can’t have it either.

In fact, it reminds me, every time I hear this expression, I think of orange marshmallow circus peanuts.

You know, that candy?

Yeah.

Yeah.

What are those made out of?

They’re made out of some kind of marshmallow.

And I was on a road trip with my family back in, I was in elementary school, and my younger brother didn’t like those peanuts, but he knew I did.

And you know how you kind of pester each other in the backseat.

He broke into the orange marshmallow circus peanuts and licked all of them so that I couldn’t have them.

And I didn’t know the expression dog in the manger, but it’s sort of like that.

I see.

I’m very glad to hear this.

My mother was a Scandinavian, and I thought maybe it was an old phrase from the country, you know, of Denmark, but obviously not.

So I’m glad to get this cleared out.

It may be in Scandinavia as well, but it goes back much farther, even to ancient Greece.

Wonderful.

Well, I’m so glad I called.

We are, too.

Thanks, Marcia.

And come visit any time.

Oh, yes.

It’s a lovely place in the summer, so you’re more than welcome.

Okay.

That’s a plan.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Thanks a bunch.

Bye.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

You know, Grant, we rarely talk about the word manger.

We rarely use it unless we’re talking about a crush.

But, you know, it’s got an interesting origin.

Oh, it doesn’t now?

Yeah, yeah.

Is it related to the French word to eat?

Indeed, indeed, to eat.

Yes, and the word mange, you know, that kind of…

The fur falls off a dog?

Yeah, it looks like it’s been eaten.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah, mangy.

Nice.

It’s all connected.

I did not know that.

It’s all connected.

We love it.

It’s a language conspiracy.

That’s right, and we love to talk about them here on A Way with Words.

So give us a call, 877-929-9673, or send your questions in email to words@waywordradio.org.