In search of ponies: Animal idioms hard to pin down

"Runs like a scalded dog," the words jumped out from a column of classified advertisements.

Having never seen a scalded dog run, and having never heard the phrase, the only logical conclusion to be reached was that the owner of the pickup truck in question was boasting that the truck was fast.

Either that or the truck yelped and whined while it ran.

It's hard to imagine where a saying such as that one originated but obviously somebody at some point saw a scalded dog run and was struck enough by the moment to turn around and put the experience to use.

Animals just seem to find themselves the subject of idioms, and often the creative sayings take on a life of their own with origins so far removed, they're virtually impossible to pin down.

For instance, in place of "wonderful" someone might use the phrase, "The bee's knees."

But the saying didn't necessarily start out with that meaning, first used as a joking expression for something non-existent, i.e. sending someone on an errand to the store to pick up some, "bees knees."

Eventually the phrase evolved to mean the best of something, perhaps based on the fact that bees carry pollen on their legs, or possibly even popularized in the 1920s by the fast-moving knees of Bee Jackson, a World Champion Charleston dancer.

Of course everybody knows that skunks don't imbibe, yet intoxicated people get compared to them all the time. A leading theory is that the saying came around because a skunk and an intoxicated person often have their respective odors, but what's more likely is just the simple fact that the words rhyme and are easy to say together.

It's hard to imagine that anyone ever actually tried to harness a cart in front of a horse instead of the other way around, yet the saying was born nonetheless.

And it was born a really long time ago at that, with the philosopher Cicero using the analogy as early as first century B.C.

The ancient Egyptians and Romans gave us the "dog days of summer," though in reality the saying has little to do with actual dogs.

Rather, it stems from the fact that in the hottest days of the year, July and August, the star Sirius, also known as the "Dog Star" appeared close to the sun, which was believed to cause the high heat.

Eventually, the Romans did end up involving real dogs, sacrificing a brown dog each year in the hopes that by appeasing Sirius they might have a mild summer.

Other historical dogs got off the hook just a little easier in the fact that all that was wanted from them was their hair, if they were biters that is.

In medieval times, it was believed that if someone was bitten by a rabid dog, they could be cured by applying hair from the animal that bit them to their wound. A couple hundred years latter the concept was applied to the aftermath of a bout of drinking and, "the hair of the dog," became known as a hangover cure.

Cat lovers may be glad to know that felines were probably not swung around to measure rooms. It's origins are uncertain, but the saying "no room to swing a cat" is believed to be a naval phrase, possibly referring to a whip which was used to punish sailors who misbehaved on British ships.

A person may have never had a goat, but that doesn't mean someone can't "get" it.

There are mixed schools of thought on where "got your goat" comes from. One theory roots the saying at the race track where goats are sometimes kept with temperamental horses to calm them. If a rival wanted to increase their odds, they stole their opposition's goat, upsetting the rival horse before race day. Another theory is that the saying emerged in the early 1900's, when goat was slang for anger.

Thankfully, in most cases, the figures of speech that make it into everyday language are just that — figures of speech. Besides, with the advent of speedometers and tape measures, swinging cats and scalded dogs are somewhat obsolete.

Sharna Johnson is a writer who is always searching for ponies. You can reach her at: [email protected] or on the web at: http://www.insearchofponies.blogspot.com