Dog does not eat dog

Posted by ESC on January 30, 2001

In Reply to: Translations posted by R. Berg on January 29, 2001

: : : : : I can´t find the meaning of this phrase ("dog does not eat dog") and I need to translate into its equivalent in Spanish. Can anybody help me? Thanks in advance

: : : : It isn't a familiar one. It sounds like simply a denial of the common cynical statement "It's a dog-eat-dog world," meaning that people are selfish and ruthless. Could you provide more of its context?

: : : Dog does not eat dog.
: : : One disreputable person will not harm another disreputable person.
: : : Source: Bertram, Anne (Bowl of Cherries)
: : : www.doghause.com/ idioms3.html

: : : Various professions will often close ranks against any external criticism.
: : : For instance, here in the NY City area there have been a rash of police officers abusing women. The excuses coming from the rank and file are outrageous. This is known, in that profession, as the Blue Wall.

: : : In the USA in Washington, DC, A Senator Ashcroft has been nominated for Attorney General and he will be unleashed for sure because dog does not eat dog.

: : Here are 2 translations for you but I am not sure of the languages, but they seem kinda romanticish:

: : DOG does not eat dog.
: : Câine pe câine nu mãnâncã.
: : Lupii nu se mãnâncã între dânsii.

: A literal translation in Spanish would go something like "Un perro no come a un perro" (I've forgotten just when to use the "a" after a verb), but it would be better to find a Spanish idiom that carries about the same message.

DOG EAT DOG -- "The struggle for survival in life or business turns man into an animal." This variation came later than the original "dog doesn't or won't eat dog," according to Gregory Titelman. Dog won't eat dog "means that people of the same type do not destroy one another. 'canis caninam non est' is Latin for 'a dog doesn't eat dog's flesh' and 'Cane non mangia cane' is Italian for 'dog doesn't eat dog.' In 1602 Shakespeare used the same idea in 'Troilus and Cressida.' First attested in the United States in 'Modern Chivalry' by Hugh Henry Brackenridge (1748-1816). Dog eat dog is of much later origin." Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).