Running Capitalist Dogs
Jack B. Nimble
pigs?" And why "running"?
Michael Wojcik
>Whence "running capitalist dogs"? How is it different from "capitalist
>pigs?" And why "running"?
I always thought (ain't folk etymology grand?) that "running capitalist
dogs" was a variant on phrases like "running-dog lackey" (of bourgeoise,
for example), where "running" emphasizes "lackey" status, as does "dog".
In other words, one is not only on the wrong side, but subservient to
the real oppressors ("lackey"), degraded by them ("dog"), and used for
menial fetch-and-carry tasks ("running").
Michael Wojcik
Communications Product Group, Micro Focus Inc.
Department of English, Miami University
Richard M. Alderson III
(Michael Wojcik) writes:
>In article <n9s6mD1...@netcom.com> n9...@netcom.com (Jack B. Nimble)
>writes:
>>Whence "running capitalist dogs"? How is it different from "capitalist
>>pigs?" And why "running"?
That's "capitalist running dogs"...
>I always thought (ain't folk etymology grand?) that "running capitalist dogs"
>was a variant on phrases like "running-dog lackey" (of bourgeoise, for
>example), where "running" emphasizes "lackey" status, as does "dog".
>In other words, one is not only on the wrong side, but subservient to the real
>oppressors ("lackey"), degraded by them ("dog"), and used for menial
>fetch-and-carry tasks ("running").
What I was once told shades over from folklore (not folk etymology, which is a
technical term in linguistics that does *not* mean "folkloric etymology") into
outright legendry (as in alt.urban.*). I still don't know enough PTH Chinese
to say if it is true or not.
The story goes that the characters for "running dog" are homophonous, when
read, with a phrase that would be translated "mother fucker."
This strikes me as unlikely in the extreme, but I was 18 when I heard it. Dear
me, that puts it as roughly a quarter century ago...
--
Rich Alderson You know the sort of thing that you can find in any dictionary
of a strange language, and which so excites the amateur philo-
logists, itching to derive one tongue from another that they
know better: a word that is nearly the same in form and meaning
as the corresponding word in English, or Latin, or Hebrew, or
what not.
--J. R. R. Tolkien,
alde...@netcom.com _The Notion Club Papers_
Grant Callaghan
See old Communist literature, especially that published by the
Chinese. They used "running dogs" to indicate Chinese and other
groups who sided with the western powers, especially the United
States during the cold war. When Vietnam started, "running
capitalist dogs" was used to indicate American forces. In
Communist literature, it goes way back.
gra...@crash.cts.com ;-[>>>
Sylvia Douglas
>On 27 Dec 1994, Michael Wojcik wrote:
>> In article <n9s6mD1...@netcom.com> n9...@netcom.com (Jack B. Nimble) writes:
>> >Whence "running capitalist dogs"? How is it different from "capitalist
>> >pigs?" And why "running"?
>> [snip]
>See old Communist literature, especially that published by the
>Chinese. They used "running dogs" to indicate Chinese and other
>groups who sided with the western powers, especially the United
>States during the cold war. When Vietnam started, "running
>capitalist dogs" was used to indicate American forces. In
>Communist literature, it goes way back.
This isn't alt.usage.chinese, but... the Chinese phrase "running dog"
predates the Communist revolution by quite a bit. The Chinese have used
"dog" as a term of contempt for centuries. It implies subservience,
willingness to flatter, and a basic lack of integrity. (Obviously,
Imperial China was well supplied with such people throughout its long
history.)
The image in "running dog" is of a scrawny half-starved dog from the
alleyways running alongside a rich man's carriage hoping for some scraps
of food to fall its way.
The Communists adopted the phrase to apply, first, to Chinese who hoped
for some material gain by supporting capitalism. Later, it became a
catch-phrase that had lost most of its original meaning except the
contempt. So it tended to be applied to anyone or anything associated
with capitalism.
Sylvia Douglas
sdou...@cpost.mb.ca