# Origins of Animal-Related Terms or Sayings, Like "Doggie Bag" or "Wild Goose Chase"



## SeaBreeze

*Origins of Animal-Related Terms or Sayings, Like "Doggie Bag" or "Wild Goose Chase"*

Here are the origins of some animal-related sayings and terms...http://mentalfloss.com/article/59285/origins-11-funny-animal-related-sayings


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## Falcon

Speaking of black sheep reminds me of an old poem:

       Mary had a little lamb,

         his fleece was as black as soot.

       And upon Mary's clean white bed spread,

         his sooty foot he put.


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## Meanderer

My favorite is "It's raining cats and dogs, and I just stepped in a poodle".  And then there's "Eating high on the hog", referring to the choice cuts?


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## QuickSilver

Pig in a poke?


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## Twixie

QuickSilver said:


> Pig in a poke?



I believe it derives from market practices when livestock was tied up in a sack..and you would feel how fat the animal was by feeling it through the sacking...when some unlucky people got it home and opened it..out would jump a cat or a mangy old mutt!


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## Pappy

How about: He's a snake in the grass.


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## rkunsaw

A wise old owl.


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## Twixie

Pappy said:


> How about: He's a snake in the grass.



I should imagine it implies that the person is a hidden danger?


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## Twixie

rkunsaw said:


> A wise old owl.



A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw, the less he spoke
The less he spoke, the more he heard
Why don't you copy that wise old bird?

Old English children's poem.


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## Pappy

Hickory, Dickory, Doc
Two mice ran up the clock,
The clock struck one, And the other escaped with minor injuries.


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## Falcon

A trio of rodents with impaired eyesight pursued the wife of an agriculturist, who, with aid of an instrument used for the dissection of animal tissue, severed their terminal appendages.  Perceive the manner in which they scamper.


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## Twixie

Falcon said:


> A trio of rodents with impaired eyesight pursued the wife of an agriculturist, who, with aid of an instrument used for the dissection of animal tissue, severed their terminal appendages.  Perceive the manner in which they scamper.



How eloquent Falcon...


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## QuickSilver

Drunker than a bicycle..    Oh wait.. that's not an animal saying..  But my dear departed Mother in law always used this one.


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## oldman

The cat's meow.
Cat in the cradle.
Dog-gone it.
Well, that's a bunch of horse $hit.
I'll let someone else take a turn.


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## QuickSilver

Sitting in the Catbird  seat.... means sitting pretty.


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## Falcon

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't lead a horticulture.


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## NancyNGA

I'm going to pounce on you "like a rooster on a junebug."


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## QuickSilver

NancyNGA said:


> I'm going to pounce on you "like a rooster on a junebug."




I just love Southern expressions.. One of my Mother-in-Law's favorites was..  "He had a calf with a crocheted tail"   meaning he had a fit.


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## jujube

One of my teachers in grade school hated gum-chewing.  She would frequently quote this poem:

The gum-chewing girl and the cud-chewing cow.
Different they are but alike somehow.
Oh yes, I think I see it now.
It's the thoughtful look on the face of the cow.


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## SeaBreeze

Kill two birds with one stone.

More nervous than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Dog tired.


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## Pappy

Cat got your tongue?
As the crow flies.


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## Falcon

For a Texas braggart:  All hat and no cattle.


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## NancyNGA

_*Jujube*_: Not a cow, but much cuter, IMO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1elUntQQlI


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## Meanderer

Snake in the grass....Cat on a hot tin roof.


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## Falcon

I'm   not as drunk as many thinkle   peep  !


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## RadishRose

Crocodile tears
Monkey business
Bird brain


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## Aunt Bea

*Three dog night - **So cold you would need three dogs in bed with you to keep warm. *


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## dkay

Madder than a wet hen
My dogs are barkin'
Have to see a man about a horse
Get all your ducks in a row


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## Aunt Bea

You've got ants in yer pants!


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## Pappy

Don’t have a cow.
Snake in the grass.


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## RadishRose

making a mountain out of a molehill
he has bats in his belfry


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## Aunt Bea

Hogan's Goat.

Hoek Hogan, a European farmer, was responsible for an incomprehensibly hideous creation. The year was 1855. Apparently, farmer Hogan had bred a goat so smelly and ugly that people remember it today, honoring the poor creature with the phrase Hogan s goat, which they use to refer to something that has been screwed up beyond all recognition.


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## RadishRose




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## fmdog44

Place looked like a rats nest.
As smooth as a monkey kickin' a football.
Drunk as a skunk.
Fat as a hog.
Sly as a fox.
Eagle beak.


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