get elected dog catcher

[GoodTaste]

Does "dog catcher" refer back to Bob Corker?


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Bob Corker, who helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal & couldn't get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting Tax Cuts.... (Trump)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Yes.

But please remember that Donald Trump does not use standard English for speaking or writing. So don't model your English after his.

 

[bubbha]

"to be elected dog catcher" or "to run for dog catcher" is an old expression. It refers to the lowest rungs of government positions. "He can't even be elected dog catcher" means someone is so unqualified or unpopular that he won't get into even the lowest government position.

Of course, dog catchers aren't elected positions, so it adds to the humor of the expression.

trump (sorry, it is my personal policy never to capitalize his name) didn't invent the expression. However, he was talking about someone who was able to be elected to the US Senate, so he was using the expression wrong.

And yes, please don't use trump as a model for English. His English is terrible; worse even than that of George W. Bush.

 

[bubbha]

The fact that his English is terrible is not a personal political leaning; it's just a fact.

 

[Raymott]

It should be made clear to students that refusing to capitalise the name of someone you don't like is not a correct English practice. It doesn't even seem to make sense, because we don't capitalise proper nouns as a sign of respect.

 

[emsr2d2]

Please try to avoid political opinion on the forum. It's a minefield and has no bearing on language questions. I'm quite certain that we all
have an opinion on Trump, good or bad, but our opinions are irrelevant.

As Raymott said, refusing to capitalise someone's surname is not standard practice. It has simply resulted in bubbha's post being written incorrectly in English.

The original question has been thoroughly answered so I am closing this thread.