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I heard a familiar word today on the radio that was being used in a way quite unfamiliar to me  It is a typical language scenario where a noun has (by a process of synecdoche) come to stand for a complete activity, and by a back-formation has then spawned a new noun to describe the er, participants in this social activity. If I tell you that, like Sherlock, it's a case of the dog that did not bark, can you guess the term? I believe it is a UKism, but please share if any of you know otherwise…!
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Dear mav: I got nowhere, but it sounds like fun.
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Pooh-Bah
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You know this is going to bug me until I get back to a computer on Tuesday!
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Dear Mav: with 33 views, and not attempts at a solution, I suggest giving us some clues.
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More clues? I'd be barking mad in public 
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My guess is that whatever it is, it isn't an USnism.
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USnism
One of the thangs that innerested me, as a new term in my lexicon, was that initial googling threw up millions of US usages, but in a whole nother context...
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OK, mav. I suspect that "woof woof" may be a clue, because there are many other dog vocal expressions you could have used."woof" can also be a weaving term. But that does not suggest any further step to me.
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Dawgone it, Bill, you just want the nekkid truth or what?
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Now I suspect nudity has something to do with it. Next clue, please.
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This isn't phallic or anything like that, is it?
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I see no clues to that. Yet.
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nintendo?
meme/mimic/imitate/mimicry
grrr......mav, this is hopeless; your clues are way too cerebral for me...what IS this word?
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In reply to:
the dog that did not bark
--Maverick
Participants? Let sleeping dogs lie? Sleeping dogs don't bark. But we don't say let a sleeping dog lie, so that doesn't work.
What other 'mute' dogs are there? Nekkid mute dogs? Ha! Dawgone nekkid mute dogs? That we can noun and verb?
A nekkid dog makes me think of a mangy dog...but that doesn't necessarily make a mute dog...
Must go to sleep. It's very late now--and I expect dawgone nekkid mute dogs will jump over this tired puppy's fence tonight.
Need to let my dogs rest--living this dog's life and all that.
And don't bark up any tree for that word that rhymes with 'itch' while I'm sleeping. You'll get collared if you do.
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formerly known as etaoin...
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Basenjis don't bark, but I doubt that is any help.
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Mav is hot dogging this one.
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Dear Musick: you remind me of a popular putdown when I was a kid:"Just because you've got mustard in your ears,don't think you are a hot dog!"
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affenpinscher, Afghan hound, aggravate, Alaskan malamute, animal, annoy, arch, baboon, badger, badger dog, bag, bait, balker, balky horse, bandog, bar, barbet, barricade, basset, basset hound, be at, beagle, beast, beat, bedevil, Bedlington terrier, bedog, beset, billy, billy goat, bitch, blemish, block, block up, blockade, bloodhound, blot, boar, boarhound, bolt, Border terrier, borzoi, Boston bull, bother, bowwow, boxer, bristle, brown off, bubbly-jock, buck, bug, bull, bull terrier, bulldog, bullock, bullyrag, burn up, Cairn terrier, canine, chanticleer, chase, Chihuahua, chivy, chock, choke, choke off, chow, close, close off, close tight, close up, clubfoot, coach dog, cock, cockerel, collie, come after, come behind, constrict, coonhound, course, crate, crock, crowbait, crowd, cur, dachshund, Dalmatian, debar, deerhound, devil, digit, discompose, distemper, disturb, Doberman pinscher, drake, drive, English toy spaniel, entire, entire horse, Eskimo dog, exasperate, exercise, extremity, eyesore, falcon, fancy dog, fash, feist, fetlock, flat-coated retriever, flush, follow, follow the hounds, follow up, foot, forefoot, forepaw, fowl, fox terrier, foxhound, frank, fret, fright, gander, gargoyle, garron, get, giant schnauzer, give chase, go after, go behind, go hunting, goat, gobbler, golden retriever, Gordon setter, Great Dane, Great Pyrenees, greyhound, griffon, gripe, guide dog, gun, gyp, hack, hag, harass, harefoot, harridan, harrier, harry, hart, haunt, hawk, heap, heckle, hector, heel, he-goat, hollo after, hoof, hot dog, hound, hunt, hunt down, husky, hyena, insect, instep, irk, jack, jacklight, jade, jam, jughead, kennel, Kerry blue terrier, Labrador retriever, lakeland terrier, lap dog, lock, make after, malamute, Maltese, mastiff, mess, miff, molest, mongrel, monster, monstrosity, move behind, mutt, nag, needle, nettle, Newfoundland, no beauty, Norwegian elkhound, Norwich terrier, nudzh, obstruct, occlude, otterhound, pack, pack of dogs, pad, papillon, pastern, patte, paw, peacock, pedal extremity, pedes, peeve, Pekingese, persecute, pes, pester, pick on, pied, pig, pique, plague, pluck the beard, plug, pointer, polecat, pooch, poodle, pother, prick, prosecute, provoke, prowl after, pug, puli, pup, puppy, pursue, quest, quest after, raise the hunt, ram, rat terrier, reptile, retriever, Rhodesian ridgeback, ride, ride to hounds, rile, roarer, rogue, roil, rooster, rosinante, Rottweiler, ruffle, run, run after, Saluki, Samoyed, scalawag, scarecrow, Scottish deerhound, scum(!), search, Seeing Eye dog, seek, seek out, serpent, setter, shadow, sheep dog, shikar, shithead(!!), shoot, show dog, shut off, shut out, shut tight, Siberian husky, sight, skunk, sled dog, sleuth, sleuthhound, slut, snake, sole, spaniel, splayfoot, sport, squeeze, squeeze shut, stag, staghound, stalk, stallion, start, steer, stiff, stifle, still-hunt, stinkard, stop up, stot, strangle, strangulate, string along, stud, studhorse, suffocate, swine, tag, tag after, tag along, tail, tailgate, take out after, tease, teratism, terrier, toad, toe, tom, tom turkey, tomcat, tootsy, top cow, top horse, torment, toy dog, track, trail, trail after, tread close upon, trotter, try the patience,
tup(!?), turd, turkey gobbler, turkey-cock, turnspit, tweak the nose, tyke, ugly duckling, ungula, varmint, vermin, vex, viper, watchdog, Welsh corgi, Welsh terrier, wether, whelp, whippet, whistler, wiener, wienerwurst, wienie, wire-haired terrier, witch, wolfhound, working dog, worm, worry, wreck, Yorkshire terrier
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tsuwm - I won't even ask... but it was fun gettting the e-mail notification. I think it's the longest one I've ever had without pictures...
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lol tsuwm!
so should I reveal all, so to speak, or leave for awhile longer to see if anyone else wants to make a public exhibition of themselves?
<eg>
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should I reveal all
Might as well, if only to take us out of your misery. And the dog best not be shaggy.
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heh, you may not like this then! http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/focus/2003/07/doggin.shtmlBut at least this saves our more delicate members from googling the term like I did, which tends to lead you to some, er, unusual special interest websites!
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>only "walking the dog" - nudge, nudge, wink, wink!
I knew I was on the right track with nudzh.
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Well...where's the novelty? Merrycans been doin' this for decades...ever hear of a drive-in? Here's a hint...not too many folks wuz watchin' the movie. So, mav, I guess you're busy organizin' the first official team for this new *sport!  
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Dear Mav: do all the. er, connections have to be made doggie style? "Please,don't make me run down past Mother's!"
P.S. the hazards metnioned did't include photgraphic blackmail. (Great pictures of us! I'll buy three sets)
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So what exactly does the Murky idiom of 'dogging it' mean - is it something like underperforming, failing, not stepping up to the plate...?
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dogging it
Yeah I'd think that underperforming would about cover it.
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dogging it = ca'canny
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lol!
The joys of incomprehension :)
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dogging it
Yeah I'd think that underperforming would about cover it.
I think you'd have to add deliberately underperforming....because the nuance implies a sports player (for instance) is dogging it out of laziness and/or indifference...not out of a lack of ability. As in "not hustling." i.e If the fastest runner on the team takes his time and gets thrown out, then you'd say "man, he was really doggin' it." BTW, the USn idiom would seem to be dogging it...don't think I've ever heard dogging without the it.
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Am I the only one feeling somewhat anticlima ctic? Mav, I wasted some good time on your poser, I'll have you know! Nintendo indeed!
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I never realized that 'dogging' something meant one was deliberately underperforming. I'll look it up tomorrow, but now it's late again.
It would be pretty interesting if dogging something really meant what you all are saying it means because hounding someone means quite the opposite: going after someone or something with dogged determination. Very, very interesting. Dog can mean both going at something with determination and going at something with no determination. I just love these linguistic idiosyncrasies.
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>Am I the only one feeling somewhat anticlimatic?
oh, I don't think so (although my post would probably have to be classified as ante-anticlimactic, or in the expectation thereof.. :)
-ron o.
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deliberately underperforming
That's a friendly amendment.
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My uncle told me of a use of "dogging" over a hundred years ago. Down in Belfast,ME, the city let a contract for care of the poor in a separate residence provided by a farmer.
One of the residents on the "poor farm" had a daughter who got pregnant without benefit of clergy. When the girl's father tried to arrange a "shotgun wedding" but did not own a shotgun, he was told:"Keep your bitches to home when they are dogging."
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BTW, dogging it also takes the form dog it in certain instances. i.e:
Don't dog it like that!
He dogs it all the time.
He can really dog it when he wants to.
And I've heard and used it many a time in referring to a day, for instance, when I'm feeling particularly lackadaisical and indifferent towards work:
I think I'll just dog it today.
(which could actually take another meaning of "just going through the motions" in this variation)
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"Am I the only one feeling somewhat anticlimatic? "
Was a "c" left out of that word?
Who would want to abolish climaxes?
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yeahbut® who'd want to abolish weather?
Sorry maahey! ~ but it genuinely interested me that walking the dog led to dogging led to doggers, in the linguistic progression I described.
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Mav, I thoroughly enjoyed the word hunt you set us on and now that I have the answer, your clues I must add, are extremely witty. Reminds me of something a professor of mine is never tired of repeating, 'what the mind does not know, the eye does not see'! wwh, I have edited; thanks.
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>extremely witty
wit and abstrusity need not be inextricably linked. ;-)
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wit and abstrusity need not be inextricably linked Especially not for those afflicted with obtusity.
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If I had originally said "Mav is hot dogging us with this one" he may have *accepted it as a correct guess.
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