A.W.A.D. - Words Derived from Animals

with Anu Garg

Five years ago we adopted a dog we named Flower. At first, we were overwhelmed -- puppy training classes, cleaning, walks, vets, and so on -- but once things fell into a rhythm, it became easy.

A dog doesn't need much: a little food, a little walk, a little rub behind the ears, and a pooch is the happiest creature in the world. Keeping a dog is easy, as long as you budget to replace all your carpets every few years.

This week we'll see words derived from animals, words where dogs and cats, pets and wild animals, insects and mammals, are used metaphorically.

bird-dog
PRONUNCIATION: (buhrd-dog)
MEANING: noun: A talent scout, especially in sports
verb tr., intr.: To seek out or follow a subject of interest

ETYMOLOGY: After bird dogs, various breeds of dogs trained to hunt or retrieve birds.

USAGE: "Kindly Cal Murphy, evaluating talent for the Indianapolis Colts these days, has been studiously tracking Wake. Fred Fleming, a bird-dog for Denver's Broncos, too." George Johnson; Lion Lives for Sacking QBs; Calgary Herald (Canada); Nov 12, 2008.

"But the sheer complexity of the stimulus measure makes it difficult to bird-dog." Michael Scherer; What Happened to the Stimulus?; Time (New York); Jul 13, 2009.

wildcatter
PRONUNCIATION: (WYLD-kat-uhr)
MEANING: noun:
1. One who drills for oil speculatively
2. One who promotes an unsafe or fraudulent enterprise
3. A worker who takes part in a wildcat strike: a sudden strike not authorized by the labor union

ETYMOLOGY: Before the currency was centrally issued in the US, each bank printed its own currency notes. Often these notes were not backed by capital and were risky. It's said that the notes by one of those banks featured a drawing of a wildcat. From there the term wildcat took the sense of anything risky, rash, or unreliable. It's now used in many senses allusively, such as a wildcat well: an exploratory oil well in an area not known to be productive; a wildcat strike: a rash strike not sanctioned by a union official.

USAGE: "The legendary wildcatter and corporate raider T. Boone Pickens has decided that drilling for more oil is not the answer to America's energy problems." A Texas Wildcatter Rides the Wind; The New York Times; Jul 22, 2008.

frogmarch
PRONUNCIATION: (FROG-march)
MEANING: verb tr.: To force a person to walk with arms pinned behind the back

ETYMOLOGY: If you've dissected a frog in a high school biology lab, that's your clue to the frog in frogmarch. Earlier the term meant to carry someone, such as an uncooperative prisoner or a drunk, with arms and legs spread out, each limb held by a person, just like a frog pinned down on a tray. Today the term applies to someone walking upright, but arms held behind the back.

USAGE: "Indeed many of the spectators even allowed their camera flashes to go off during the golfers' back-swings, a crime usually punished by a frogmarch off the course during a more routine tournament." Norman Dabell; Time for Tee on the Ponte Vecchio; Reuters; Dec 31, 2007.

mawkish
PRONUNCIATION: (MAW-kish)
MEANING: adjective:
1. Excessively sentimental, especially in a false or childish manner
2. Having a nauseating taste or smell

ETYMOLOGY: From Middle English mawke (maggot). Are maggots sentimental? We don't know, but the secondary sense of the word mawkish derives from the disgust we feel at the sight of the insect. By extension the word began to refer to something sickeningly sentimental.

USAGE: "Diana's passing prompted a months-long orgy of mawkish and histrionic media coverage centering on the accomplishments of a woman best known for her romantic troubles and fashion prowess." Colleen Carroll Campbell; Michael Jackson Fatigue Syndrome; St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Jul 9, 2009.

shrew
PRONUNCIATION: (shroo)
MEANING: noun: A bad-tempered, nagging woman

ETYMOLOGY: Shrew is an animal of the Soricidae family having a long, sharp snout. From the belief that a shrew had a venomous bite, in the beginning the term was used metaphorically for anyone of a spiteful nature, male or female. Eventually the word came to be applied exclusively to women.

USAGE: "Bibisab's acid tongue and larger than life valour are part of her defence mechanism. She has to be bold and loud to compete with men in her male-dominated society. She may appear to be a shrew but she is not dishonest." Jamil Mahmud; Bibisab: A Woman Going Beyond Gender Roles; The Daily Star (Dhaka, Bangladesh); Jul 15, 2009.