Sunday, July 24, 2022

Make sure you understand an idiom before you use it


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Dilbert cartoon is titled Eat Our Own Dog Food, and has the following dialogue between his Pointy-Haired Boss (PHB) and Dilbert:

 

PHB:      We need to eat our own dog food.

Dilbert: You mean we need to use our company’s

               products as if we were customers?

PHB:       I’m not sure what I mean. I once heard our CEO say

                the dog food thing and I liked how wise it sounded.

Dilbert: It means we should use our own products.

PHB:      That doesn’t sound right. Why would we use our products

               when we can use good ones?

Dilbert: Because…it will make our products better over time.

PHB:      To be honest it made more sense

               when I thought it meant dog food.

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wikipedia has an article on Eating your own dog food, which suggests a better phrase would be Drinking Our Own Champagne. When using an idiom, you also need to get the spelling right. On April 19, 2010 I blogged about Right out of the shoot? Another type of YAKWIRM! It should be the rodeo inspired phrase ‘Right out of the chute.’

 

The image of a dog food sign by Carol M. Highsmith came from the Library of Congress, and an image of a champagne bottle came from Wikimedia Commons.

 


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