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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
"A hair of the dog that bit you" is a phrase used (like you didn't know) meaning "to take an alcoholic drink in the morning after having 'one too many' the evening before". I liken the idea to: if a deep sea diver surfaces too fast he might go back down and surface a little slower to releive "the bends" - or - that a marathon runner, upon finishing a race, isn't supposed to just stop and take a nap. It is safer(?) to cool down gradually. 'nuf said about all that.
Why a hair?
- and -
Any other cannine quips?
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
can't teach an old dog new tricks.
let sleeping dogs lie.
lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas.
(and i am not much of a dog lover... i suspect those who live and love dogs will know many more.)
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
The last time I had occasion to use that phrase, I used it in the presence of my 5-year-old cousin (who hangs on my every word). She promptly asked "A dog *BIT* you?!?!!?" Which gave me the opportunity to explain metaphor at an age-appropriate level...
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
And an opportunity to explain that adults sometimes act in ways that they know they will regret the next morning.
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
I always assumed it had something to do with homeopathic magic: using a bit of the animal to combat the effects of the bite.
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 261
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 261 |
>Why a hair?
Wasn't it supposed to be a Medieval remedy or something? I remember reading about it being some kind of cure for rabies - to take a hair (possibly 'cause it's the easiest bit of the dog to get hold of?) of the dog that bit you and either swallow or apply it to the wound. That's as much as I can remember anyway.
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 261
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 261 |
It's dog's life
Barking up the wrong tree
His bark is worse than his bite
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
homeopathic magic
It may be "magic," but isn't this the same principle behind vaccines?
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
There's contagious magic and sympathetic magic. If it's truly magic of which nuncle speaks, hair of the dog would be sympathetic.
As for homeopathic medicine vs vaccination I believe the big difference in kind is that vaccination is meant to prevent and homeopathic medicine is meant to cure.
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
Sorry to be so old-fahioned, but I was using homeopathic magic in Sir James Frazer's sense. Also, I believe, called imitative or sympathetic magic. See http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/frazer/gb05100.htm
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