There are two big games scheduled on Super Bowl Sunday. For sports fans, there’s the football game, sure. But for fans of furry adorableness, Animal Planet will be returning with their annual Puppy Bowl. Team Ruff tangles with Team Fluff for all the marbles. Or all the kibble, if you will.
Prepare yourself for the ultimate puppy showdown with some phrases inspired by man’s best friend. Many dog references have made their way into everyday speech. For example, when everyone seems to be out for themselves, it can sure feel like a dog eat dog world out there. Or when you’re sitting on your front porch on a sweltering August afternoon with a cold glass of lemonade, you’re enjoying the dog days of summer.
Here is a list of some of the more pup-ular dog terms in use today. You can also check out our “The Hair of the Dog: 9 Dog Idioms with Real Bite” slideshow because we know you can’t get enough … we can’t either.
In the doghouse
Get ready for the silent treatment. If you happen to be in the doghouse, you’re in deep trouble. Significant others are known to inhabit these after forgetting Valentine’s Day, birthdays, and/or anniversaries.
Double dog dare ya
As we all learned from decades of watching A Christmas Story marathons, when you double dog dare someone, you’re drastically raising the stakes. What begins as an innocent dare might escalate to the much-feared “I double dog dare ya,” from which there’s no turning back.
Bite the hand that feeds you
When you bite the hand that feeds you, you’re behaving ungratefully—even maliciously—toward someone on whom you depend. Permissible only if said hand is wrapped in bacon.
The dog ate my homework
In this era of laptops and online classes, the old gem the dog ate my homework seems quaintly anachronistic. But in its heyday, this excuse helped many a procrastinator win the sympathy of—and hopefully a deadline extension from—a gullible teacher. “The dog ate my Mac” doesn’t have quite the same selling power. Perhaps “power cord” might work, though.
We did our homework on another saying: the origin of hair of the dog. Learn about it here.
Let sleeping dogs lie
Dictionary.com defines this phrase as: “do not stir up a problem that has lain quiet for some time.” So if something is a problem, but it hasn’t really acted like a problem in a long time or given anyone any hassles … let’s just consider it a sleeping dog. Just leave it be. And maybe give it a peanut butter treat.
Eat your own dogfood
The term eat your own dogfood is also referred to, adorably, as dogfooding. It’s a term used to describe when a tech company tests its own code and products internally. Example: Google dogfooded Google Drive before releasing it as a beta.
Raining cats and dogs
You don’t need the Weather Channel to know when it’s raining cats and dogs. Use this timeworn phrase whenever you want to communicate that it’s really comin’ down out there, people. There are differing theories as to the saying’s origin, but it was popularized in the 1700s by Mr. Gulliver’s Travels himself, Jonathan Swift.
WATCH: These Kids Know More About Idioms Than You Do
His bark is worse than his bite
The expression his bark is worse than his bite means that someone is basically full of hot air and bluster. They might yell at you, maybe even puff out their chest a little, but that’s the extent of it. Mostly just a lot of posturing.
