Words and Their Stories: Dog Talk

17 September 2011

A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, is groomed prior to competing in the Oklahoma City Summer Classic Dog Show

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Americans use many expressions with the word

dog

. People in the United States love their dogs and treat them well. They take their dogs for walks, let them play outside and give them good food and medical care. However, dogs without owners to care for them lead a different kind of life. The expression,

to lead a dog's life,

describes a person who has an unhappy existence.

Some people say we live in a

dog-eat-dog world.

That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs. They say that to be successful, a person has to

work like a dog.

This means they have to work very, very hard. Such hard work can make people

dog-tired.

And, the situation would be even worse if they became

sick as a dog.

Still, people say

every dog has its day.

This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that

you can never teach an old dog new tricks.

They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things.

Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways. People who are unkind or uncaring can be described as