[Idiom] Drunken dog as ever lived

Status
Not open for further replies.

hdfan2

New member
Joined
Mar 13, 2020
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Russian Federation
Hi there! I'm translating an article about Peninsular war, and have trouble understanding a phrase that Wellington wrote about one of his officers: "a very good officer, but a drunken dog as ever lived." What exactly does this means? Thanks!
 

GoesStation

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Hi, and welcome to the forum. :hi:

From context it's clear that Wellington meant "a drunkard if there ever was one; a perfect example of a habitual drunk". The expression isn't used in modern American English.
 

Tarheel

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Hi there! I'm translating an article about the Peninsular war, and I have trouble understanding a phrase that Wellington wrote about one of his officers: "a very good officer, but a drunken dog as ever lived." What exactly does this mean?

Are you getting paid for that?
 

hdfan2

New member
Joined
Mar 13, 2020
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Russian Federation
Thanks everyone!
From context it's clear that Wellington meant "a drunkard if there ever was one; a perfect example of a habitual drunk". The expression isn't used in modern American English.
That was my first thought, but then I've found the following text:
In the eighteenth century, Creeks appear to have associated drunkenness with madness, the quality of bravery and recklessness that warriors sought, and men consequently consumed rum in greater quantities than did women.36 A Muskogee–English dictionary from the late nineteenth century glosses the Creek term hache as “drunk, crazy, resolute, daring,” a word related etymologically to hadjo, as in the warrior titles Efau Hadjo, meaning “mad dog” or “drunken dog,” and Itcho Hadjo Tassikaya, meaning “mad deer warrior,” or, translated another way, “foolish, mad, drunken deer warrior."
This made me wonder if "drunken dog" is a synonym for "mad dog". I guess my first thought was correct.
 

hdfan2

New member
Joined
Mar 13, 2020
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Russian Federation

GoesStation

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Thanks everyone!

That was my first thought, but then I've found the following text:

This made me wonder if "drunken dog" is a synonym for "mad dog". I guess my first thought was correct.
The Creek language apparently extended the meaning of a word that meant "crazy" to encompass "intoxicated". The concepts drunken dog and mad dog would thus be expressed with the same Creek words. This has nothing to do with the use of the word pair "drunken dog" in English.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
Drunks are drunks in English.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top