Transcript of “Keeping Dogs and Barking Yourself”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Yes, hi, this is Mike Reynolds calling from Jacksonville, Florida.
And I have been always fascinated by a phrase that my father had been talking and saying all the time I was growing up.
He came from Michigan and was in World War II.
And the phrase is, there’s no use in keeping the dogs and doing the barking yourself.
And he would use this when I was supposed to mow the lawn, or he would use it if he wanted someone to give him a glass of water.
And I was just kind of curious, what was the history of that phrase?
Where did it come from?
Because in the case of my father, he never had dogs in his growing up, and we never had any dogs in our house.
So it was kind of a strange thing that he was referencing these, but it was always a way for him to delegate to me or my sister.
So I was just kind of curious if you can give me any insights into that phrase.
There’s no use in keeping dogs and doing the barking yourself?
Yes, exactly.
And so your understanding was that he was trying to delegate a task to somebody else, right?
Exactly.
Exactly.
Usually the kids.
-huh.
And so when you heard that phrase, you just went and did the task.
Is that right, Mike?
Exactly.
I mean, it was obviously he was like an order, truthfully.
But basically he used it as a fun way to say, go do this.
Right.
For me.
Why have children?
Why have children if you’re not going to make them work?
You just said, why have children and do anything for yourself?
Yeah, it’s kind of the same idea, actually.
You know, if you’re going to hire somebody to do a job, don’t do it yourself.
It’s pointless.
Or, you know, if you delegate a task to someone, then, you know, it’s their task.
Don’t bother with it.
What’s really interesting, Mike, is that this is a really old notion.
It’s a really old proverb that you see all the way back at least to the 1500s.
There’s one citation, yeah, from the 1500s that goes, don’t keep a dog and bark yourself.
And Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels, back in 1738, describes this conversation between a lady and her servant.
And the lady says to the servant, good miss, stir the fire.
And the good miss, the servant, is trying to flatter the lady.
And she says, indeed, your ladyship could have stirred it much better.
And then the lady says, I won’t keep a dog and bark myself.
And it’s not only in English.
You also find it in Dutch.
My Dutch is very poor.
But it’s something like, commandeer je hond en blaf self, which is basically command the dog and bark yourself, which is something you don’t want to do.
You don’t tell the dog a command and then do the barking.
Exactly exactly let’s hear your version of the saying again or your dad’s version his version
Was there’s no keeping the dogs and doing the barking yourself no keeping the dogs and doing
The barking yourself that’s wonderful all right mike take care of yourself be well thank you very
Much have a good day thanks so much bye-bye thanks to rick o in boise who also asked us about this
Expression. We know you’ve got expressions that have been tossed around your family for years and
Years, and you said to yourself, well, I should call Martha and Grant. Well, today’s that day.
