Is It Really a Doggy-Dog World?
October 4th 2011 05:49
Oh, come on now!
Doggies are cute and fuzzy and they lick your face when you're sad.
But the phrase is commonly used when people are angry and frustrated and they feel that the world is full of strife, conflict, and ruthless competition. So why would anyone think they're comparing it to a box of warm puppies?
The correct phrase is "dog-eat-dog" world.
Quite a different picture, isn't it?
And let's face it, if you do happen to use "doggy-dog world" to mean something warm and fuzzy and desirable, it's kind of a neat phrase. But people don't use it that way.
I guess the answer is just that it's another of those cases where English, spoken quickly, gets slurred and some words and phrases sound like others. Just check out any of the numerous sites that post mis-heard song lyrics. There are many of them and they do get hilarious.
But using a phrase that clearly has the exact opposite connotation from the meaning intended is not only poor English, it's lazy thinking.
I wish I could blame this whole misused phrase on Snoop Dogg, who—for those of you who haven't been keeping up with modern music—actually did write a song called "Doggy-Dog World."
No, sadly, the phrase is way more widespread than that, and Snoop can't take all the credit. (Sit, Snoop, sit!)
Snoop's song probably encouraged the wrong use, but no matter how popular he is, I don't think everyone who uses "doggy-dog world" has even heard of him.
Did Snoop know what he was doing? Well, music is full of misspellings and twisted grammar, some done for the sake of the rhythm and some, I'm sure, done unintentionally.
Does Snoop Dogg know how to spell dog? I'd like to think so. So I don't know what Snoop intended with his doggy-dog world. I'd say he was referring to himself, except that "It's a crazy mixed-up world, it's a doggy-dog world" sounds (except for the contradiction) like he's trying to describe a pretty nasty place.
As far as him spelling his stage name "Dogg"? No problem. It's a stage name. There's a long tradition of altered spellings there.
Let's look at the olden days of music–the 1960's. Did Led Zeppelin know how to spell "lead"? Of course they did. They meant, for whatever reason, "a zeppelin made out of lead," and they didn't want people to think they were talking about the first zeppelin in a row of them. But if they'd called themselves "Lead Zeppelin," what do you think people would have assumed? How do you think people would have pronounced it? Right. "Leed."
—Look! Up in the sky! It's the lead Zeppelin.
And let's not forget the Beatles.
What the heck is a "beatle"? It's just a clever wordplay on "beat," as in "musical beat." Once the boys decided to play with that concept, what other choices did they have?
They weren't going to call themselves the "Beaters," were they? Everyone would have thought they were either wife-beaters or Waring blenders.
Hardly the stuff of social revolution, eh?
Doggies are cute and fuzzy and they lick your face when you're sad.
But the phrase is commonly used when people are angry and frustrated and they feel that the world is full of strife, conflict, and ruthless competition. So why would anyone think they're comparing it to a box of warm puppies?
The correct phrase is "dog-eat-dog" world.
Quite a different picture, isn't it?
And let's face it, if you do happen to use "doggy-dog world" to mean something warm and fuzzy and desirable, it's kind of a neat phrase. But people don't use it that way.
I guess the answer is just that it's another of those cases where English, spoken quickly, gets slurred and some words and phrases sound like others. Just check out any of the numerous sites that post mis-heard song lyrics. There are many of them and they do get hilarious.
But using a phrase that clearly has the exact opposite connotation from the meaning intended is not only poor English, it's lazy thinking.
I wish I could blame this whole misused phrase on Snoop Dogg, who—for those of you who haven't been keeping up with modern music—actually did write a song called "Doggy-Dog World."
No, sadly, the phrase is way more widespread than that, and Snoop can't take all the credit. (Sit, Snoop, sit!)
Snoop's song probably encouraged the wrong use, but no matter how popular he is, I don't think everyone who uses "doggy-dog world" has even heard of him.
Did Snoop know what he was doing? Well, music is full of misspellings and twisted grammar, some done for the sake of the rhythm and some, I'm sure, done unintentionally.
Does Snoop Dogg know how to spell dog? I'd like to think so. So I don't know what Snoop intended with his doggy-dog world. I'd say he was referring to himself, except that "It's a crazy mixed-up world, it's a doggy-dog world" sounds (except for the contradiction) like he's trying to describe a pretty nasty place.
As far as him spelling his stage name "Dogg"? No problem. It's a stage name. There's a long tradition of altered spellings there.
Let's look at the olden days of music–the 1960's. Did Led Zeppelin know how to spell "lead"? Of course they did. They meant, for whatever reason, "a zeppelin made out of lead," and they didn't want people to think they were talking about the first zeppelin in a row of them. But if they'd called themselves "Lead Zeppelin," what do you think people would have assumed? How do you think people would have pronounced it? Right. "Leed."
—Look! Up in the sky! It's the lead Zeppelin.
And let's not forget the Beatles.
What the heck is a "beatle"? It's just a clever wordplay on "beat," as in "musical beat." Once the boys decided to play with that concept, what other choices did they have?
They weren't going to call themselves the "Beaters," were they? Everyone would have thought they were either wife-beaters or Waring blenders.
Hardly the stuff of social revolution, eh?
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