I'm confus-ed! What does it mean when someone "talks about you like a dog?"

[Writer]

I can't parse those words - what in the heck do they mean in practical terms?

~Confused Writer~

[phleshdef]

1. Have you never heard the phrase before or you have and just don't get it?

My grandmother used to quote variations of that all the time. It basically means they talk about you as if you are a lower life form.

[CakeGrrl]

8. Yep - it's been around forever

like "low down, dirty dog".

[Writer]

16. No, I've honestly never heard it before. n/t

[movonne]

2. dirty dog?

[hlthe2b]

Well, it is a poor analogy in my family...

since no one speaks of my dog without absolute reverence and love. ;)

[jesus_of_suburbia]

32. Same here... I understand what he's trying to say, but I don't like talking about dogs that way.

My dogs are pampered more than I am.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. Maybe it means the "b" word that gets some people so upset.

on edit -- Oh, you're talking about the president's comment? I have no idea what it means.

[slackmaster]

4. A dog is regarded by many as a filthy animal, but it's also "Man's best friend", a loyal companion.

It's the duality of Man, the Jungian thing.

[NatBurner]

6. i'm kind of proud that i get that

lol

[louis-t]

5. I believe the quote is grammatically incorrect.

"talks about you as if you were a dog" would make more sense. Otherwise, it could mean "talk about you like a dog (talks about you)."

[FrenchieCat]

13. It's a well known idiom, particularily in the Black Community......

It was not meant to be grammatically correct.
It was meant to communicate a truth of the matter
in a way that most folks will understand.

[jobycom]

7. I had that same reaction. I know what he meant, but it was poorly constructed.

At least, I think he meant "They talk about me as if I were a dog," although he could have meant "They talk about me the way they would talk about a dog." Both would have roughly the same context.

However, he could also have meant "They talk about me the way a dog talks about me," which would be clever, implying that they just yap and make a lot of noise.

Any way he meant it, it was a pretty good statement, though I wonder if his nervous pause and explanation after he said it was because of the ambiguous grammar or because he decided he shouldn't have injected a personal element into it. It really showed how much he does hear all the insults and attacks, and it shows that he's not as unflappable as he seems at times. It was an interesting, personal moment, I thought.

[Whisp]

9. It may be a lift from a Jimi Hendrix song...

What Obama said is how Jimi had it in his lyrics.
Was a post here about that but I don't have the link.

Would make sense to me, Obama is a pretty articulate guy ;)

[jobycom]

15. Ah! That would make sense. Sounds like a lyric, too.

I could imagine the lyric just popping into his head as he spoke.

[CakeGrrl]

10. It was straight from Jimi Hendrix - word for word

From the song "Stone Free".

EVERYDAY IN THE WEEK I'M IN A DIFFERENT CITY
IF I STAY TOO LONG PEOPLE TRY TO PULL ME DOWN
THEY TALK ABOUT ME LIKE A DOG
TALKIN' ABOUT THE CLOTHES I WEAR
BUT THEY DON'T REALIZE THEY'RE THE ONES WHO'S SQUARE

If he paused after the statement, it was probably to wonder how many ways it would be parsed, misinterpreted and criticized.

I love it when he "keeps it real" - it pisses off (and probably scares) the Repubs, Teabaggers and that ilk.

[Writer]

17. How postmodern of Pres. Obama.

He should quote musical lyrics throughout his speeches. Then he should tap into some '70's B-movie lines. It would make Quentin Tarantino proud.

:D

[Radical Activist]

24. He does it fairly often.

It's rarely pointed out but I notice it.

[jobycom]

19. That explains it.

I can imagine him pausing to wonder if he should explain where it came from, then realizing he'd been silent a beat too long interjecting the part about his speech writers not writing that line.

I don't know if it has any impact of the Right at all. I just like seeing the person behind the public image. It still shows how much the attacks do get to him--understandably--but the pause and disclaimer make more sense. Plus it shows how his mind works--to interrupt a speech in the middle to share a personal observation with a crowd that was responding so well to him, and to come up with a "literary" quote (music is literary--well, some), all show a lot about him. Most of it good, some of it maybe a little bad, but all of it real, as you said. :)

[frazzled]

22. He paused after the statement, thinking ...

Purple haze all in my brain
lately things don't seem the same
Acting funny and i don't know why
'Scuse me while i kiss the sky

Then he thought better of it.

[Diamonique]

26. It may be poorly constructed, but that's how we say it.

I'm surprised that people aren't familiar with it.

[butterfly77]

11. It means that...

they are talking about you like you are nothing,a piece of shit,non-human which is what most republicons think of the President..That is why he is being called every thing under the sun.


Most of them think they superior and he is beneath them because he is black and black people are in most of their eyes subhuman,unless they work for them to undermine the rest of us..

You know what it means..

[Bitwit1234]

12. Of course this shows that republicans have no respect for

the OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY. The only reason they want a republican in the office is because he can run things. If they had respect for the office, no matter who occupied it they would not slander and flame and slur any president like they are doing to Obama, like the did, but not to the same extent, Clinton and Carter. The republicans have never in all their time as republicans done any thing but slur and slander a Democratic president. Look at Bush the tush's grandfather who tried to over the presidency of FDR. Was that respect. But then being a Bush and a republican he got clean away with it. And history does not even mention it.

[nenagh]

14. And when Michelle was referred to on an oil blog I was reading..

as 'Moochelle'..

I can't count the names he's been called on some of those blogs.. :(

FYI.. the posters and editors on TheOilDrum did not put up with the name calling...

But on another blog.. no one commented on the slurs Obama was called.. and I was reading to try to understand the mechanics of oil wells...

[Writer]

18. Thanks, everyone. I'm less confus-ed now.

Consider me an "it getter."

[27inCali]

20. I think he was being sly and quoting Hendrix

as secret code to Liberals.

[apnu]

21. It means to be talked down to.

Either as a sub-human species or as a master talks to his livestock and work animals. Either way, Obama is saying the GOP thinks him less than human, and certainly not deserving a place at the table with the good china.

Another way of looking at it, Obama's statement is about the racism he faces every day from the opposition.

[vaberella]

23. "talks about you like a dog" = condescending or without regard or importance

but it's origins stem from a Hendrix song as stated on this thread.

[Diamonique]

27. That phrase was part of Black culture long before Hendrix used it.

He wasn't pulling it from a Hendrix song. It's part of his culture. It's part of my culture, and I'll admit I've never heard a Jimi Hendrix song.

[vaberella]

28. Should I have stated...that it's infamy in relation to most threads on this board..

Yeah, I'm aware. Well...Hendrix wasn't one to roll with "his culture" when he got into his musical genius, if I remember correctly. I love Hendrix---but I love 60s/70s rock. This is hardly a phrase associated with Black culture...this can be found all over and mainly by working class people.

[Diamonique]

30. OK. That makes sense.

I thought it was a pretty common saying, and I've been surprised at how much discussion it's created here and on TV.

[AlinPA]

25. Republicans consider him a dog, it's their racist language.

[Phx_Dem]

29. Seriously? It means a lack of respect, or to treat like shit.

[Bluenorthwest]

31. I'm surprised at you, really.

Let's Brush up your Shakespeare, for crying out loud!
Well then, it now appears you need my help:
Go to then: you come to me, and you say,
Shylock, we would have monies; You say so;
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard,
And foot me, as you would spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold; monies is your suit.
What should I say to you? Should I not say,
Hath a dog money? is it possible
A cur can lend three thousand ducats? or
Shall I bend low, and in a bondman’s key,
With bated breath and whispering humbleness,
Say this, —
Fair sir, you spet on me Wednesday last;
You spurn’d me such a day; another time
You call’d me — dog; and for these courtesies
I’ll lend you thus much monies?

Merchant of Venice. A very old idiom indeed/ this dog bit.