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Last updated at 11:43 GMT, Wednesday, 11 March 2009

Animal idioms: Dog

Introduction

Our three idioms this week are:

  1. To be in the dog house
  2. The hair of the dog
  3. To make a dog's dinner of something

Video

Teacher's homework

Have you ever forgotten your boyfriend or girlfriend's birthday and ended up in the doghouse? Or perhaps you tried to do something but made a dog's dinner of it?

Write a paragraph using one or more of these dog idioms and my favourite ones will go up on this page.

This topic has now closed. Thanks for all your homework.

Aldo, Peru
hello everybody and congratulations for the programme intelligent, that's a interesting programme about !in the dog house! I always watch the programme, beacause that helping me much, with my english ok that's all from me, thanks and bye

Melda,Turkey
You drank too muck last night and now you having a very bad headache?They say the hair of the dog that bit you? No!There is one way to recover hangover.It's Turkish coffee!You must try this!

Viviane, France
My sister was 2 hours late to the lunch at my parent's house last Sunday. Now she's in the dog house with then. She told them it was because she had went out on saturday and drank too much. She woke up very late on Sunday and she needed the hair of the dog to recover from her hangover. Sometimes she makes a dog's dinner of her life.

Fabricio, Mexico
Hi Teacher, I really congratulate you for your singular way of teaching idiomatic expressions in English. Your explanations are clear and easy to be caught. In addition, we are also looking forward to be taught for any other animal! Well, we know, that's the 麻豆官网首页入口, the best in ELT! Thanks and goodbye.

Davis, Colombia
Yesterday im made a party in my house, my frieds and i made a Dog's dinner whit it. also we drunk a lot, today i'm felling me really bad so i to drink the hair of the dog.

Oxana, Russia
Hello,teacher! Your lessons are very intresting.Thank you.Yesterday my husband had party with his friends and he drank too much, afterwards he had the hair of the dog.Today he is really in the dog house with me.

Marcela
I'm sorry but I can't understand the meaning of "a hair of a dog". Could you clear this doubt for me please?

The Teacher says

Hello Marcela. To have 'the hair of the dog' means to drink a little bit of alcohol the day after you drank a lot of alcohol in order to recover from the hangover. A hangover is the bad feeling you get the day after you drink too much.

David, Colombia
I bought a dog because i suppossed it will benice, the dog偶 gave me a lot of problems. The house started to smell so nasty, and he bited all the fornitures.now my mom is upset and tired whit that. yesterdey she seai me "I want this dog out of my house". Now im very sad because y have to give the dog to a neighborghood. So im made a dog's dinner buying a dog.

Mehmet Yildiz, Gaziantep, Turkey
looking back on the past,I really had been in the dog house for I was extremely hungover and had the hair of the dog and womited all over the carpets on the ground in a newly-gotten friend's house.I mean it was a nice beginning for making a new friend.Because I made dog dinners of everything.

Saleh, UAE
Once,my manager asked me to prepare persntation. unfortunately, i brought the rong floppy disck by mistake. i was really in the dog house. i told him just give half an hour to prepre new one. aftarthat i made a dog's dineer dinner of it.

Gurg, Iceland
hello.. once I dropt a glas on the floor ): and week later I dropt a disk on the floor then I was in the dogs house !

Marisela, Venezuela
Hi teacher I'm glad to listen to you again. About the dog idiom specifically to make a dog's dinner of sthg another way to say that is to make a dog's breakfast of sthg, doesn't it? Well, sometimes I have made a dog's dinner of some things I do because I'm a bit lazy, and the lazy has to work twice, jaja, but now I strive to do the things right. When I make a dog's dinner of sthg I'm quikly in the dog house because I feel ashamed. In my country, everybody have the hair of the dog the day after New Year celebration, they think that will make them feel better because they have drunk too much alcohol the night before. Everybody drink a lot, I hate that. I never have the hair of the dog 'cause I never get drink, so I don't need to be in the dog house for that.

The Teacher says

That's right Marisela, we can say 'to make a dog's breakfast' of something. It also means to do something very badly.

Hiroki, Japan
We have some proverbs about alcohol all over the world. One of famous proverbs makes us encourage to drink too much."Good wine makes good blood"We exactly know we can use alcohol as medicines and we had better to have the hair of the dog when we want to drink.But actually I sometime drink too much without any sickness.Anyway I like to drink but I really don't like to go somewhere as I'm in the dog house if I miss any transports because I have too much drinking.

Khalid, Egypt
it is good, i see that this way "sound with video" is the best way for learnning.

El铆n Hulda, Iceland
Hello... Once I was playing in my garden with my friend and we were playing football and I was going to runto the ball and kick it wery wery hard but my friend camed runing to me an instead to kick the ball I kicked her leg and it broke and then I was in the dog house and I was so sorry that I kicked here I started to drink and I drank a lot of alcahole and the day after I wanted the hairof the dog...

Margr茅t 脕sger膽ur, Iceland.
When me and my class went to Vantasg贸gur in Iceland I was the girl who started many things. Like one time in lunch I was makeing a joke about my friend og the same table and I. And took a glas of milk an hold it over my head and i pushed it away and all the milk spilled over the boys on the next table, and I made a realy big dog's dinner that but it was so funny. And "luky" for me, on the other table sat the the teachers and they were not happy or th boys on the next table. I was realy in the dog house that time.

Svanhildur, Iceland
once i was playing football and i was very mad and i shot all over the place and most of it went to the kid's faces and then i was in the doghouse..;(

Svanur, Iceland
Hello... once I was playing foodball and my friend Hilmar was a idiot and took ball of me. I started to kick him and he started to crying and I walked home an then I was in the dog house

Hilmar, Iceland
once a day i was playing soccer whit my grandpa and i tok the ball of him and i did good trick on him and i skore so 1-0 for my then my grandpa com stong back eftir this goal from my and he tok the ball and score than i was very angry and a shot bud a great save bey gradpa bud hi shot and skore and the game is over so i lose 1-2.... then i'm in the doghouse!!

Elli, Iceland
The video is funny, iwas in a store and i dropped a jar of pickles on the floor and i made a dogs dinner

Vidyasekaran, India
Our teacher was in the dog house when One of my friend proved him wrong in the class room. This incident occured when we were studying our Engineering final year course. The teacher couldnot tolerate this and had too much of alcohol and the next day he vomited in his car and made a dogs dinner of something a hair of a dog would have probably helped avoid this incident.

Naveen, India
WELL...i don't drink a lot..so i'll try to use it my way..i was supposed to give a presentation..obviously didn't,wanted to make a dog's dinner out of it..but ohhhh it was a disaster...and soon after it,i moved into the dog's house.

Sohaila, Egypt
onece a day i got up on the wrong side of the bed ..i had to prepare for a big party yet i was sick as a dog & i made a dog's dinner of the ornament .. At last our house was realy glowing .. & i can't tell you about the meal..after greating the coming people i turned to our lovely kichen .. what about tasting an itty-bitty cake ?? oh ,it's great ..& this coloured one? oh..delicious.....Then my six years old cousin entered the kichen searching for a cup of water .. so he found my face covered with chocolate ..o my god..i am so dead & 'll be in the dog house soon...but he discovered from my coloured face that the cake was tasty .. so he asked for a piece yet i gave him all the plate & ran away...As you know no one would escape from his destiny .. my mum & and found him eating but the elf told them i was so ...when every one went home i felt shame & wanted to suicide or have the hair of the dog ..but these two things aren't very good techniques..so i drunk cola & slept as if there were nothing

Magni, Iceland
That was many fun, I watch many time, once I am eat in my home I dropp my dish on the flour, than I had make a dog's dinner of that

Anna Sigga, Iceland
once I was playing football and miss hit the ball and the ball hit my coacher which was in wheelchair and he fell out of it and his leg fell off and i thought i was in big trouble but I was just in the doghouse.and night after the game i drank much beer and night and i got very drunk and I passed out on the floor when I woke up I was lying next to a girl. That day i needed the hair of the dog.This was a very wierd experience :)

Thora, Iceland
Hi..:D once i was in the dog house and that sucks... i went to a party and i was not allow to be there of course i went and my parents was not very happy with that...:( but now it is okey...:D it was very fun video..:D keep the good work going

Tinna, Iceland
once when i was like 12 years old then my cat was fallow a mouce and i catched that mouse and i put her in a box and went with it in to my house and i went to the toilet and when i came back the mouse was gone and my dad went crazy then i was so much in the dogs house.

Bb, Mongolia
its very embarrasing to tell about this story to the public, 7 months ago, that was previous day of the examination, i thought i was ready to pass the exam easily and with my some friends i drank several bottle of beers, subseqeuntly i woked up in my friends house without any memory, and then i realized that i played hookey for my exam, finally that semester i was in the dog house, pssss

Ramin, Iran
hi two years a go one nigh i was in my cousins hom. that night we drunk a lot of alcohol and i smoked several sigaret.two or three later till morning i was in the dog house.when i went to bed for sleeping every time that i closed my eyes i felt that every thing turned arouned my head and this forced me to open my eyes.

John, Teacher in Taiwan
Sorry - can't let this pass without a little correction - the full expression is - "The hair of the dog that bit you" - ie. You were bitten by the alcohol "dog" last night - now you take a little more of the same "dog" to overcome the effects this morning.

The Teacher Says

Thanks for your full explanation, John. That's true, the full expression is "The hair of the dog that bit you". However, to make it shorter most people simply say "The hair of the dog".

Meriem, Algeria
Hi, professor and thanks for that lovely lesson.One night during an axam period I was very busy and tired memorising my lessons and preparing myself for the next day exam that I slept on my desk, the next day (the day of the exam) I woke up very late 30 minutes before tha start of the examI put up the clothes I could find and I rushed out of my house, Runing like a mad looking for a taxi, but unfortunately I could'nt find. I had no choice but take the bus It seemed to me at that time that it went at a snale's pace.I arrived at my college that day, Half an hour late and the teacher didn't accept to let mein; and I can tell you I was really in the dog house.Icried and wept but she didn't let me in.Today Ido not regret that day because after looking at the questions of the exam afterwards I realised I could have made a dog's dinner of it.

Mustapha Gumel, Nigeria
Hello.Iam a primary school teacher and one of best in our school because of you.Thank you.Regards.Your Listener.Mustapha Gumel.

Van Hien, Viet Nam
Sometime, I am in the dog house. Espeacialy when i must balance the work and time for may girl friend. What can i do?

Dolphin,China
Sarah never get drunk, so she never need the hair of the dog. However, she made a dogs dinner of the final exam last week. That's because she went to the wrong place. She blamed the dog days of summer. And I only hope that she wouldn't be in the dog house when her father found it out.

Ana Paula, Brazil
I'm in the dog house now. I overslept last night and lost my friend's party. Anyway, I tried to talk to her today, and explain what had happened, but she didn't want to hear me and I think I should wait more to give the reason why I miss her party. I've just made a dog?s dinner of everthing!

Tatiana, Russia
Mum asked me to iron dad's shirt for an urgent appointment and I made a dog's dinner out of it, I ended up in the dog house for burning it a bit. After that I decided to relax a bit and woke up with a terrible hangover, I guess the best remedy would have been the hair of the dog

Adil
When i read these sentence before reading these senteces and listening teacher review.I was feeling as i was in dog house because it was going over to my head but when i understood , i was out of the dog house.

Queenie, Hong Kong
I am really bad at organizing things and last week I was in the dog house when I messed up my boss' files. I was spat at my face and I badly needed the hair of the dog. So after work, I went straight to the pub and had a chat with friends. It made me feel relieved. I hope that I won't make a dogs dinner of my work anymore!

Alex, Brazil
Once I though I never could study english alone, but I have found this website wich has helped so much.

Momar, Diop, New York
When I was a knee high to a grasshopper, I used to be in the dog house, when I made a dogs dinner of my sister's food, so my mother got angry at me. My mom locked me in the room alone. I felt like the hair of the dog.

Dasha, Ukraine
Hi Teacher! It's me again..I just wanted to say that I'm like a dog with two tails(=very happy) when I see your cool idioms!! Thank you for your great job!!

Dasha, Ukraine
Hi Dear Teacher!! I'm so happy to see your Lesson!! :) My friend forgot about my birthday, so he was in the dog house...But I had a nice party..But I had to drink the hair of the dog... The following day, my friend came to greet me..He tried to make a great excuse for not coming but he made a dogs dinner of it..:(Look forward to seeing your next cool idioms!! Maybe it'll be parrot ones? :)

Neelam, Nepal
I remember those day of my schools, when i used to draw my teachers's cartoon on my desk. My friends used to like it but one day one of my teacher catched me while making his funny picture on my copy. Then I was in the dog house on my school life.

Alex Wang, Canada
In many of the state-owned companies or government agencies in China, there's an unspoken rule: if you don't bribe some key persons, then you'll have very little chance to get promoted. So, in order not to make a dog's dinner of their career and future financial rewards, many people have joined the invisible war of bribing the right persons in the right way at the right time.That social phenomenon has made many Chinese people feel like being in the dog house.

Rosa, Italy
Three weeks ago I went home in the South of Italy for my Summer vacation and because of the traffic on the roads I reached home with 4 hours of delay... and my trip lasted 15 hours! So the traffic makes a dogs dinner of my trip towards Summer holidays...

Diego, Venezuela
Sth really frustrating is when you need to re-do some activity or work because sb has made a dogs dinner of that activity or work. Not only because of the extra-energy you will requiere but also because the extra costs. I remember when I was 15, one hour after I had assamled my bike by myself... I had to pay almost like a new one because I had made a dogs dinner of my bike assambling. jajaja

Terry, USA
Here in South Carolina, we have very hot, humid days in August, and we call those the dog days of summer.We also use the word "dogs" or "doggies" in the same way you might say "crap" in a situation or something worse ! And if one of my kids said something worse, then he would be in the doghouse !

Hung Hung, Taiwan
Last week ,I thought,I like to be in thedog house because I forgot the time to meet my friends at coffee shope so thatmade them to wait for me for a long time.later,they phoned me to go there to meet them ,when I went to there ,I sawmy friends face are not good that day ,after the meeting finished , I also feltbad for a while ,I think ,next time ,Ido not do again.

Catherine, France
Well, I'm sober and I don't need the hair of the dog but nevertheless I can very quickly be in the dog house with my very talent in making a dog's dinner of my rendez-vous !

Felipe Cardemil, Chile
Iwas in a concert last night, It was awesome, after that meand my friendswent to a bar, we were drinking beerand listening to rock and roll all night. The morning after I woke up terrible thirsty and I said "I need the hair of the dog urgently"

Betzabe, Chile
Mmm, yes..."the hair of the dog" hahaha, I remember something about my uncle. When my uncle was 17 years old, was the best student of the high school, but once he was to a party the night before 18th september's parade(in chile). So, the next day he needed the hair of the dog, and the most terrible was that he wanted dissapear in that moment, and suddenly a teacher said him that he had to stay in front of all the students carring the flag. It Really was terrible for him, because he almost couldn't walk and he had to walk in front of the mayor. It was very embarrasing for him, and the next day he was in the dog house. Then the headmaster suspended him for many days. hahaha for it was funny but for him it was terrible, hahaha.

Karen, Chile.
Last week I forgot something very important!!!...I forgot my father`s birthday and I was in the doghouse but my mother did not forget it and she decided to do a wonderfull cake, but when she was preparing it she made a dogs dinner of it because the cake was not so good... I'm sorry daddy!

Macarena, Chile
Hi teacher when I was 13 years old and my mother sent me to pay the bills, I forgot it and I spent the money buying other things like, candies,potatoes chips etc.she sent me for a long time to the dog house.

Agueda, Chile
I was in the dog house last term..I did not passed a course and My parentes wanted kill me... it was awful

Ratiba, Algeria
i am in the dog house, i tried many time to cook well but my husband never eat at home he said my cooking is tasteless . today he is inviting his mother to dinner so i asked my sister to help me at preparing couscous. at dinner my husband could not stop eating it was a delicious dish .when i went to the kitchen to bring some drinks i heard his mother gossiping in my back with my husband she said that for once i did not made a dogs dinner of this invitation so i was so angry i drunk all bottles of wine then asked her to go out of my houses. plz teacher advice me what to do.

Evelyn Guerrero, Chile.
Yesterday, my mum asked me if I could buy some fruits and vegetables and I said yes...So, I went to the Supermarket, but I made a mistake and I bought meat, I made a dog's dinner of it, because I got confused. So, when I got back at home, my mother told me that I was in the dog house.xD

Astrid, Chile
When I was fourteen I went to a party without permission, So my father came and pulled my hair. Then I was really in the dog house.

Silvana, Chile
A long time ago when we were children, a classmate of mine was in the dog house because she had stolen 5 thousand pesos from proffesor's bag...for a couple of weeks she was really unpopular.bye

Uttam Kumar, India
Hi intelligent your idioms are great.I woke up late today and i missed my college bus, tomorrow i would be in the dog house

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