Say What? Don’t keep a dog and bark yourself & Barking dogs seldom bite
Today’s Say What? has gone to the dogs … literally. The sayings we’ll be discussing today feature humanity’s favorite canines in all their proverbial glory, with a little assistance from the characters of Justified.
Don’t keep a dog and bark yourself
If you have paid someone to do something for you so you don’t have to, would you do it yourself anyway? Say, for example, you had hired a maid to come in a couple of times a week for housekeeping. Would you then vacuum the floors or dust the knick-knacks yourself? I know I wouldn’t. That is the essence of this particular proverb: don’t pay someone to perform a task and then do that same task yourself. If you’ve got a perfectly good guard dog on duty, there’s no need for you to be out patrolling the property each night. You may sometimes see this posed as a question instead-“Why keep a dog and bark yourself?”
The phrase is listed in A Book of Quotations, Proverbs, and Household Words by W. Gurney Benham (1907), but Benham’s source is listed as John Ray’s Compleat Collection of English Proverbs (1742; later editions 1767 and 1813). Perhaps the earliest use of this idea is in 1583, in Brian Melbanck’s work Philotimus: the Warre Betwixt Nature and Fortune, where it’s written as “It is small reason you should kepe a dog, and barke your selfe.”
Characters likely to use this saying know the value of the right people or the right information.
“Well, Boyd,” Raylan said, pushing his hat back with a nonchalance that didn’t fool either one of them. “Looks like every fool who’s even thought about growing marijuana in Harlan is part of your operation now. What did you do, put a recruiting ad on television or something?”
Boyd just settled deeper into his chair, feet propped comfortably on the porch rail. “Now why would I do that, Raylan, when the success of my business speaks for itself? The promise of lots of money is always enough to draw folk in.” He grinned, and Raylan had to fight the urge to bust Boyd in the mouth. “After all, why keep a dog and bark yourself?”
Barking dogs seldom bite
When humans want to grab or hold something, we use our hands, with those all-important opposable thumbs. Dogs, however, only have mouths. When a dog is barking, it’s really difficult for him to sink his teeth into you; he’s all threat and no follow-through. So this saying has come to mean that people who make lots of threats seldom actually carry them out.
As with "don't keep a dog" above, this proverb is included by Benham in his work and is sourced from Ray. In Ray, it’s listed as “The greatest barkers bite not sorest,” which is definitely related to the very similar saying “his bark is worse than his bite” (or, as I’ve occasionally heard, “all bark and no bite”). In addition to the English text, there are similar proverbs from the Italian, French and Latin. I quite like the Latin version: cave tibi a cane muto et aqua silente, meaning “beware of a silent dog and still waters,” because if that dog isn’t barking, he’s probably getting ready to bite you.
“You know, Raylan,” Boyd said, frowning thoughtfully, “I don’t believe it’s considered polite to come into my place of business and harass me like this. You keep threatening me with prison and with bullets in front of my customers as if you think that’ll scare them away. But I have noticed, Raylan,” and the smile he flashed was an unpleasant one, “that you haven’t done anything more than just talk. You’re just a dog barking at the end of your chain, and barking dogs seldom bite.”
Raylan leaned over the bar. “I won’t stay chained up forever, Boyd,” he murmured. “And my bite is definitely worse than my bark.”
As with any pithy sayings, these are best used sparingly. After all, you don’t want the barking of the dogs to drown out your characters.
Sources:
Don’t keep a dog and bark yourself
The Free Dictionary here and here
Barking dogs seldom bite
A Book of Quotations, Proverbs and Household Words by W. Gurney Benham, electronic p. 770, 783
A Hand-book of Proverbs: comprising an entire republication of Ray’s collection of English Proverbs, etc., collected by Henry G. Bohn, 1888, electronic p. 91, 342
Don’t keep a dog and bark yourself
If you have paid someone to do something for you so you don’t have to, would you do it yourself anyway? Say, for example, you had hired a maid to come in a couple of times a week for housekeeping. Would you then vacuum the floors or dust the knick-knacks yourself? I know I wouldn’t. That is the essence of this particular proverb: don’t pay someone to perform a task and then do that same task yourself. If you’ve got a perfectly good guard dog on duty, there’s no need for you to be out patrolling the property each night. You may sometimes see this posed as a question instead-“Why keep a dog and bark yourself?”
The phrase is listed in A Book of Quotations, Proverbs, and Household Words by W. Gurney Benham (1907), but Benham’s source is listed as John Ray’s Compleat Collection of English Proverbs (1742; later editions 1767 and 1813). Perhaps the earliest use of this idea is in 1583, in Brian Melbanck’s work Philotimus: the Warre Betwixt Nature and Fortune, where it’s written as “It is small reason you should kepe a dog, and barke your selfe.”
Characters likely to use this saying know the value of the right people or the right information.
“Well, Boyd,” Raylan said, pushing his hat back with a nonchalance that didn’t fool either one of them. “Looks like every fool who’s even thought about growing marijuana in Harlan is part of your operation now. What did you do, put a recruiting ad on television or something?”
Boyd just settled deeper into his chair, feet propped comfortably on the porch rail. “Now why would I do that, Raylan, when the success of my business speaks for itself? The promise of lots of money is always enough to draw folk in.” He grinned, and Raylan had to fight the urge to bust Boyd in the mouth. “After all, why keep a dog and bark yourself?”
Barking dogs seldom bite
When humans want to grab or hold something, we use our hands, with those all-important opposable thumbs. Dogs, however, only have mouths. When a dog is barking, it’s really difficult for him to sink his teeth into you; he’s all threat and no follow-through. So this saying has come to mean that people who make lots of threats seldom actually carry them out.
As with "don't keep a dog" above, this proverb is included by Benham in his work and is sourced from Ray. In Ray, it’s listed as “The greatest barkers bite not sorest,” which is definitely related to the very similar saying “his bark is worse than his bite” (or, as I’ve occasionally heard, “all bark and no bite”). In addition to the English text, there are similar proverbs from the Italian, French and Latin. I quite like the Latin version: cave tibi a cane muto et aqua silente, meaning “beware of a silent dog and still waters,” because if that dog isn’t barking, he’s probably getting ready to bite you.
“You know, Raylan,” Boyd said, frowning thoughtfully, “I don’t believe it’s considered polite to come into my place of business and harass me like this. You keep threatening me with prison and with bullets in front of my customers as if you think that’ll scare them away. But I have noticed, Raylan,” and the smile he flashed was an unpleasant one, “that you haven’t done anything more than just talk. You’re just a dog barking at the end of your chain, and barking dogs seldom bite.”
Raylan leaned over the bar. “I won’t stay chained up forever, Boyd,” he murmured. “And my bite is definitely worse than my bark.”
As with any pithy sayings, these are best used sparingly. After all, you don’t want the barking of the dogs to drown out your characters.
Sources:
Don’t keep a dog and bark yourself
The Free Dictionary here and here
Barking dogs seldom bite
A Book of Quotations, Proverbs and Household Words by W. Gurney Benham, electronic p. 770, 783
A Hand-book of Proverbs: comprising an entire republication of Ray’s collection of English Proverbs, etc., collected by Henry G. Bohn, 1888, electronic p. 91, 342