Dogsbody

Posted by ESC on December 27, 2000

In Reply to: Dogsbody posted by ESC on December 27, 2000

: : Does anyone have any idea where this expression came from - for those who are given the menial tasks of this world? I've looked in the Archives and found no answer as to the origin.
: : Have a good 2001!

: I am away from my library at the moment. If memory serves, I found the expression "dogsbody" in a book of nautical terms and it referred to a "lowly" meal served to underlings. I'll post again after I've checked my references.

DOGSBODY - "A not very popular dish aboard ship which consisted of passengers' leftovers mixed with ships biscuits and reheated. A meal without much status now applied to those who once ate it." (From "Salty Dog Talk: Nautical Origins of Everyday Expressions" by Bill Beavis and Richard G. McCloskey, Sheridan House, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., 1995; first published in Great Britain, 1983.) Another source: ".noun orig nautical. A junior person, esp. one to whom a variety of menial tasks is given; a drudge, a general utility person.(compare) earlier nautical slang sense, dried peas boiled in a cloth." (From The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang by John Ayto and John Simpson, Oxford University Press, New York, 1992.)

• Dogsbody marcus 12/28/00