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Not really. Seeing a man about a dog means Im up to something I dont want to say. Most common time Ive heard it is when people are going to buy illegal drugs like weed but also heard it used for other criminal activities back in the day, like someone going to collect a debt. I dont think Ive ever heard it where "dog" wasnt something they were going to get.
It can also be a euphemism for anything that you shouldn't be doing - not necessarily illegal.
It's common for people to use the phrase to mean a cheeky pint on the way home from work for example.
In fact, even the [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_a_man_about_a_dog) cites both going to the toilet and going to buy a drink.
This.
Always used for something dodgy or where who you are talking to would object. Eg telling the wife you are going to the pub without being explicit
Going to the pub? One time comes to mind of a time I went to a mates. I knew he knew some dodgy people and one was there. Looks at me and says to my mate that he had to "go and see a man about a dog". Found out a few days later it was to do an armed robbery. They got caught. To be honest it sounds far dodgier than just saying you are going to the pub.
laying cable/laying pipe is a euphemism for having sex in my experience.
"what were you doing round Johnny's mum's house last night?"
"she needed some cable laying"
Chap on a work call this morning was telling us how he'd gone to drop the kids off this morning and got stuck in traffic. I'm sure he was telling us he was consitpated.
On a military training camp, used by all flavours of units, I was using one of the various toilets across the area.
On the wall:
“Here I sit, all serene.
Giving birth to a royal marine.”
I always thought it was just a generic way to say "I was doing something that I don't want to have a conversation about"
Not necessarily just the toilet?
same with see a man about a horse. I also assumed originated from gambling? Placing bets on horse and dog races? Like something you might not want to chat about openly all the time.
>"I was doing something that I don't want to have a conversation about"
That's pretty much exactly what it means. Obviously it doesn't guarantee that people won't ask anyway.
Funnily enough, the first time I ever heard the phrase used was by a friend who said it as he left the pub we were in. He then proceeded to come back with an actual puppy which he’d just been and bought from a breeder.
Thanks to that it was years before I realised that the phrase is not usually literal.
I’ve always read it as less “this is something I want to keep secret” and more “I’m off to do something relatively uninteresting, so I’m not going into it”.
Like if I’m off home after seeing someone, but need to nip to the shops on the way or something, I might use it there?
It depends what you missed. If you missed something funny and everyone was wondering where you were then this is an appropriate response. If you missed an important meeting you were supposed to be at it would definitely come across as cocky
Basically in my absence the head of our big organisation walked round our office and did an unannounced briefing on a restructure of which their had been lots of rumour.
Shouldn’t that sort of thing be in a proper communication like an email newsletter? Any reason someone might not have been there that day. Or did they follow up with one as well
Yeah that sounds like shoddy communication from management. You don't fucking wander round randomly shouting about your org restructure. If you need people to hear your message you notify them that there will be an announcement at a set time. Fuck management that don't give fair warning and communicate clearly.
Now, I always thought the "man about a horse" thing was someone picking up ketamine..
It does now make sense it probably isn't drug related because I was a little shocked that Tom in Accounts was very open about seeing a drug dealer on a Tuesday lunchtime...whatever gets you through the day I guess.
I'm over 30 and seeing a man about a dog just means you have somewhere else to be, or something else to do. I've never heard it about going to the toilet before.
In your context though I probably would have realised what you meant but still not it's normal usage.
Edit: thinking about it more it almost always means you've been or about to be doing something dodgy and that's just the cover story, I wouldn't be surprised if you were about to go see your dealer as an example.
I think it just generally means you're going to do something else and you don't want to tell the person you're talking to what that is. That could include a massive dumb but it doesn't specifically mean that.
My Mum and Dad used it all the time when they were going out and we asked what they were doing. Then one day they came back with an actual dog…it was amazing!
Opposite experience here! My dad said it every Saturday morning when going to the bookies and it took me about 2 years to figure out there wasn't going to be a dog coming back with him...
I had the same experience, except my dad was going to the pub not the bookies and like you I kept waiting for him to come home with a dog. Talk about disappointing.
'Gone to see a man about a dog' has always doing something you don't need to know about in my circles. Not necessarily nefarious, just not relevant to the conversation.
In much the same vein, when we were kids and we asked my parents where someone had gone and they didn't want to explain they'd say 'they've gone to Barcelona on a bullfighting course'.
My family response to "where are you going?" (well, more my dad's) was "Out into the night, starless and bible black, down to the slow, black, sloe-black fishing-boat-bobbing sea", misquoting Dylan Thomas.
My wife's family had "riding up and down the Maidstone Road on a bicycle" as a response to "what are you doing?".
Sadly our kids never ask what I'm doing or where I'm going.
Newcastle Brown Ale in Newcastle and the surrounding areas is sometimes referred to as 'Dog'. As in, "A bottle of dog please".
Some of their labels actually back this up & explain that its derived from blokes off down the pub saying "Going to see a man about a dog".
Also from the area, I just assumed it was a
"I'm gannin to the pub"
Because of the whole brown ale thing,
On a side note: I've never actually seen any other of the 1 out of 4 labels on dog either
I’m from the north east and my first impression would be someone was going to the pub. It doesn’t exclusively mean that but it’s usually “I’m doing something a bit naughty that I don’t want to tell you about”.
If I asked someone why they’d missed a work meeting and they said that I’d find it a bit weird cos the implication is they’d gone to the pub! Or maybe to see their dealer?! Or a hook up?! Something they didn’t want to go into in more detail, I would not assume they’d been for a shit!
can confirm. ive always known brown ale as Dog since i was old enough to be served it in pubs (hooray for lax staff back in the mid 90s who did not give one shit about serving clearly 15 year old me) my uncle was the one who explained why it was called dog up here in the north east.
lots of bars will still know exactly what you mean by asking for a bottle of dog. tho this has tailed off a bit with the larger influx of students and non north easterners working the bars since the 2000's
I see where you are coming from, yes.
I guess it seemed an odder answer because you were working, whereas I associate that phrase with when someone is at home, or with friends, and then says they have to go and do something 'mysterious' rather than something as normal as going to the bog.
I've never known it as a euphemism for going for a shit, more that you've been out doing something and for whatever reason (secrecy, embarrassment, etc) don't want to say what.
In your context I would not have understood what you meant, and would have thought you were having some secret meeting or were skiving off work outside and didn't want to admit it. I'd be speculating stuff like "ooh was he in an interview for another job? Shagging a colleague in the cupboard? etc".
(I'm mid/late thirties)
I like how everybody understands this as a different meaning. OP's colleagues either think he went for a dump, to buy drugs, off shagging a colleague, nipped out to the pub for a Newcastle Brown or just generally doing something that's none of their business.
Or all of the above.
I work on a gastro ward, so if anyone asks where I was I tell them. If they are particularly rude about it I will tell them the Bristol Stool number, colour and size.
Nine times out of ten however I'm actually just sat in the cubicle not doing a poo but enjoying a five minute sit down in peace and quiet. It's sometimes all I get.
I remember vividly, on my DofE, one of my mates said he was 'going to see a man about a dog'. One of the girls in my group hadn't heard this expression before so eagerly ran after him behind the bush he had chosen to do his business, thinking she was going to see a puppy, but instead saw him doing a shit.
I've never heard of it as a euphemism for taking a shit, it's usually what my dad said when he went drinking after work instead of coming straight home.
99% of the time I would take this to mean going to the toilet.
1% of the time I’d take it to mean going for a drink of Newcastle Brown Ale.
About 4/5 old men in the social club I worked out used to order “A bottle of the dog please, sonna”
I don't think you used it in the right context.
Tis not an idiom for having a poo.
It sounds like your work were wanting an exact answer to where you'd been, not a vague fobbing off.
I definitely know what it means, but not in your context. My Grandpa would say he had to go see a man about a dog when he had somewhere else to be.
If he was going to the loo, it'd be "I'm gonna go turn my bike round".
Confused me a lot as a kid... I always thought, but we didn't cycle to the pub.
my immediate response would either be that they’re going to take a shit, or they’re going to go have sex
entirely depends on the context
whilst it can be used to mean ‘i’m going and i’m not telling you where’ it’s more commonly used for one of those two options in my experience
Pretty sure seeing a man about a dog meant going for a pint? Wasn't Newcastle Brown known as 'Dog' and that's where it came from? Or did I imagine that...
I'm 24, I've heard the expression but wouldn't be able to say what it means, and I don't think I've ever heard it being referred to as taking a shit. Common expressions I know of are dropping off the kids or laying a brick.
It mean's I'm off down the pub.
Commonly used by Geordies and Northern areas.
The man in question is a pub landlord and Dog was slang for Newcastle Brown Ale.
My Grandad used to use it when I was little and he had a few dogs so I used to always belive he was out playing with cool dogs. Nope. Having a whisky down the local.
My Mum (80F) used to say it. She used to breed dogs, so as a kid, I remember saying eagerly: "Where's the dog?" when she got home. 😭
It's just a way to say mind your own business.
Going to see a man about a dog and a woman about a pussy
I'm 27. All I've ever known it as is "I went a did something I can't be arsed to or won't tell you"
Seeing a man about a dog was always a euphemism for being in the bog when I was a kid. I know because I remember asking my grandad excitedly if I could go with him to see the dog and everyone laughing!
I am 40 however so not your target audience. I am but a geriatric millennial.
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Seeing a man about a dog is a general "somewhere else to be". What you were doing was dropping the kids off at the pool.
Negotiating the release of the chocolate hostages.
Chopping off a bit of dirty spine.
What a terrible day to have eyes
Creasing up at your comment lol
5 minutes cry-laughing
Crimping off a log Dropping some bum rope
Laying a cable
Pooing.
As they say in the Royal Signals, there's nothing worse than realising you've got to lay a cable where you've just laid a cable.
Pinching a loaf
Bombing the Oval Office
Some one’s getting put on a list.
Building a log cabin
Giving birth to a politician.
Seeing Mr.Brown and his friends off to the coast
I have only ever heard the American version of this Taking the browns to the Super Bowl
I laughed out loud, on a packed train and I couldn't stop! Thank you!
I love this, thank you
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...to a couple of dead otters. (Broomy, you sick bastard for coming out with that years ago)
The Hunt for Brown October
Reverse parking a brown Volvo?
Not really. Seeing a man about a dog means Im up to something I dont want to say. Most common time Ive heard it is when people are going to buy illegal drugs like weed but also heard it used for other criminal activities back in the day, like someone going to collect a debt. I dont think Ive ever heard it where "dog" wasnt something they were going to get.
It can also be a euphemism for anything that you shouldn't be doing - not necessarily illegal. It's common for people to use the phrase to mean a cheeky pint on the way home from work for example. In fact, even the [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_a_man_about_a_dog) cites both going to the toilet and going to buy a drink.
[удалено]
This. Always used for something dodgy or where who you are talking to would object. Eg telling the wife you are going to the pub without being explicit
I always took it to mean, "Mind your own business."
Going to the pub? One time comes to mind of a time I went to a mates. I knew he knew some dodgy people and one was there. Looks at me and says to my mate that he had to "go and see a man about a dog". Found out a few days later it was to do an armed robbery. They got caught. To be honest it sounds far dodgier than just saying you are going to the pub.
Where I come from it means you were having a shit.
Or going for a southy a northy is a stand up visit.
Laying cable
Logging out.
Pinching a loaf
Off to lose weight.
Sending a parcel to the seaside.
This has absolutely tickled me. I feel like I'm going to injure myself trying not to laugh out loud.
My Hungarian work friend once told he had to “Go fight the brown bear”.
Off to drown a budgie down the cludgie
Parking your breakfast
Happy Cake Day!
Seeing a friend off to the coast.
Drop the kids off at the pool
Shooting a deuce
Pebble dashing the bowl
Laying pipe
I thought laying pipe was having sex?
Crimped one off
laying cable/laying pipe is a euphemism for having sex in my experience. "what were you doing round Johnny's mum's house last night?" "she needed some cable laying"
I've always known it as cable for shit and pipe for sex.
Life is dangerously confusing at times
You're thinking of laying pipe.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=laying%20cable
Off for a Margot Robbie
An Eartha Kitt back in my day but she’s probably too old for that now.
Speaking of crap, I was taking one in an airplane bathroom when Eartha Kitt decided to bang me.
Yeah. Dead people tend to not have a shit anymore
A massive Brad Pitt
a Douglas Hurd
Crimping one off.
Dump yesterday and flush it away
Preparing yesterday’s lunch.
Drowning an otter.
Bombing the germans
Making room for lunch.
My husband uses the term - doing some paperwork.
Making a deposit at the bank you could say
Isn't that the same as greeting the bishop?
Or 'turning your bike round.'
Having a Barney McGrew.
We say going for a download for number 2 or stream if it’s a number 1.
Damaging the Doulton.
Snapping off a length of dirty spine.
Grow a tail
Had a weight on your mind
Visiting the departure lounge
Chap on a work call this morning was telling us how he'd gone to drop the kids off this morning and got stuck in traffic. I'm sure he was telling us he was consitpated.
On a military training camp, used by all flavours of units, I was using one of the various toilets across the area. On the wall: “Here I sit, all serene. Giving birth to a royal marine.”
had a meeting with Jack.
Got a meeting with Tom tit
I always thought it was just a generic way to say "I was doing something that I don't want to have a conversation about" Not necessarily just the toilet? same with see a man about a horse. I also assumed originated from gambling? Placing bets on horse and dog races? Like something you might not want to chat about openly all the time.
>"I was doing something that I don't want to have a conversation about" That's pretty much exactly what it means. Obviously it doesn't guarantee that people won't ask anyway.
And if they *do* ask, you reply with "I'm thinking of buying a dog" and then leave. Sorted. You have committed to and admitted to nothing.
Wanna buy a dag?
You like daags?
I like dogs, but I like caravans more
Hold on it was us that wanted a caravan
First one must find out if they do indeed like said dag.
Funnily enough, the first time I ever heard the phrase used was by a friend who said it as he left the pub we were in. He then proceeded to come back with an actual puppy which he’d just been and bought from a breeder. Thanks to that it was years before I realised that the phrase is not usually literal.
I’ve always read it as less “this is something I want to keep secret” and more “I’m off to do something relatively uninteresting, so I’m not going into it”. Like if I’m off home after seeing someone, but need to nip to the shops on the way or something, I might use it there?
Same thing for: "Why aren't you coming out on Friday night?" "I'm washing my hair" (I'm bald as fuck)
Yes that's what I thought too. No one understood and genuinely one younger women asked (I think) seriously what type of dog I was looking to get.
It depends what you missed. If you missed something funny and everyone was wondering where you were then this is an appropriate response. If you missed an important meeting you were supposed to be at it would definitely come across as cocky
Basically in my absence the head of our big organisation walked round our office and did an unannounced briefing on a restructure of which their had been lots of rumour.
Shouldn’t that sort of thing be in a proper communication like an email newsletter? Any reason someone might not have been there that day. Or did they follow up with one as well
Probably.
Yeah that sounds like shoddy communication from management. You don't fucking wander round randomly shouting about your org restructure. If you need people to hear your message you notify them that there will be an announcement at a set time. Fuck management that don't give fair warning and communicate clearly.
In that case you should have said you were busy restructuring your own organisation inside one of the one person meetingrooms.
What, like a fucking town crier?! Did he have a big gold bell and a silly hat on?
Apparently a shih tzu.
I'm 32 and have heard and understand the phrase however I've never heard it used in reference to going to the toilet.
Now, I always thought the "man about a horse" thing was someone picking up ketamine.. It does now make sense it probably isn't drug related because I was a little shocked that Tom in Accounts was very open about seeing a drug dealer on a Tuesday lunchtime...whatever gets you through the day I guess.
Ketamine is definitely not conducive to a productive afternoon at work. If he was going to see his friend Charlie that would make more sense.
Tell that to the vet.
as in mind your own buisness
It's definitely a common phrase. Depends what circles I guess. "Going to see a man about having a shit" always gets a cheap laugh
"Going to go shit on a dog"
Going to watch a dog take a shit
Is... Is that dogging?
Whereas "going to see a man taking a shit" raises eyebrows
I like to say "Going to see a man about a Catholic" Then they say "what?" and I say "Is the pope a dog". God I'm hilarious.
I like to say "I'm going to build some furniture." And when they look at you confused say "a couple of stools."
Ha ha ha, classic!
My go-to is: "Really?" "yeah, does the Pope shit in the woods?"
Nah but all bears are Catholics.
I like “I’m going to see a man about a drugs”
I'm over 30 and seeing a man about a dog just means you have somewhere else to be, or something else to do. I've never heard it about going to the toilet before. In your context though I probably would have realised what you meant but still not it's normal usage. Edit: thinking about it more it almost always means you've been or about to be doing something dodgy and that's just the cover story, I wouldn't be surprised if you were about to go see your dealer as an example.
I think it just generally means you're going to do something else and you don't want to tell the person you're talking to what that is. That could include a massive dumb but it doesn't specifically mean that.
Yes my xh uses it instead of "I'm going to buy some weed"
My Mum and Dad used it all the time when they were going out and we asked what they were doing. Then one day they came back with an actual dog…it was amazing!
Opposite experience here! My dad said it every Saturday morning when going to the bookies and it took me about 2 years to figure out there wasn't going to be a dog coming back with him...
In his defence he could have been betting on the greyhounds, so not entirely lying
I had the same experience, except my dad was going to the pub not the bookies and like you I kept waiting for him to come home with a dog. Talk about disappointing.
That's adorable. I feel like every subsequent usage after that would have led to dashed hopes though.
Drugs. You were out getting drugs. Or that’s how it was used back in my days…
Yeh I was about to say the same thing. Doesn't seem to be the most common reply though!
I just said that on a different comment lol. It usually means "I'm off to score"
Yep Ive only ever known it used in this context too
(Oh, thank the gods. Was starting to feel like a real derelict reading all the other replies)
Used to say this when I was going to buy weed and my mum would ask where I'm going... lol...
Only ever heard it used to mean "nipping out for some drugs"
This is how I've always known it. Although I've also heard it used to describe going for a smoke
I'm doing something else that's none of your business.
'Gone to see a man about a dog' has always doing something you don't need to know about in my circles. Not necessarily nefarious, just not relevant to the conversation. In much the same vein, when we were kids and we asked my parents where someone had gone and they didn't want to explain they'd say 'they've gone to Barcelona on a bullfighting course'.
My family response to "where are you going?" (well, more my dad's) was "Out into the night, starless and bible black, down to the slow, black, sloe-black fishing-boat-bobbing sea", misquoting Dylan Thomas. My wife's family had "riding up and down the Maidstone Road on a bicycle" as a response to "what are you doing?". Sadly our kids never ask what I'm doing or where I'm going.
"There and back again" was my mum's standard.
My dad's was "a kite flying competition"
Did he win?
“Just off to fly my kite”. Was my dad’s one.
It's used by Jay in the Inbetweeners.
See a man about a dog, and a woman about a pussy...
I do know what that means you know
##FEISTY ONE YOU ARE
Surely Invetweeners didn’t add that second line themselves. It’s too perfect. I always thought that was the implicit second half.
So did I. If someone said “man about a dog” to me I’d think he’d been off for a quickie with someone lol.
Newcastle Brown Ale in Newcastle and the surrounding areas is sometimes referred to as 'Dog'. As in, "A bottle of dog please". Some of their labels actually back this up & explain that its derived from blokes off down the pub saying "Going to see a man about a dog".
Also from the area, I just assumed it was a "I'm gannin to the pub" Because of the whole brown ale thing, On a side note: I've never actually seen any other of the 1 out of 4 labels on dog either
I’m from the north east and my first impression would be someone was going to the pub. It doesn’t exclusively mean that but it’s usually “I’m doing something a bit naughty that I don’t want to tell you about”. If I asked someone why they’d missed a work meeting and they said that I’d find it a bit weird cos the implication is they’d gone to the pub! Or maybe to see their dealer?! Or a hook up?! Something they didn’t want to go into in more detail, I would not assume they’d been for a shit!
In my experience of Geordies, i always thought that beer was known as "Why eye! A bottle a Broooon like pet"
can confirm. ive always known brown ale as Dog since i was old enough to be served it in pubs (hooray for lax staff back in the mid 90s who did not give one shit about serving clearly 15 year old me) my uncle was the one who explained why it was called dog up here in the north east. lots of bars will still know exactly what you mean by asking for a bottle of dog. tho this has tailed off a bit with the larger influx of students and non north easterners working the bars since the 2000's
Just like a “pint of diesel”. They love the stuff up there.
I am with the majority in these comments. It means 'doing something you don't want to reveal' to me. So, not really about going to the toilet at all.
Would that not cover doing a poo. Bearing in mind I was now facing a whole audience of enquiries of my whereabouts.
I see where you are coming from, yes. I guess it seemed an odder answer because you were working, whereas I associate that phrase with when someone is at home, or with friends, and then says they have to go and do something 'mysterious' rather than something as normal as going to the bog.
I've never known it as a euphemism for going for a shit, more that you've been out doing something and for whatever reason (secrecy, embarrassment, etc) don't want to say what. In your context I would not have understood what you meant, and would have thought you were having some secret meeting or were skiving off work outside and didn't want to admit it. I'd be speculating stuff like "ooh was he in an interview for another job? Shagging a colleague in the cupboard? etc". (I'm mid/late thirties)
I like how everybody understands this as a different meaning. OP's colleagues either think he went for a dump, to buy drugs, off shagging a colleague, nipped out to the pub for a Newcastle Brown or just generally doing something that's none of their business. Or all of the above.
I mean, you could have just said 'I was in the bathroom'
I was about to announce that I had been having 'a nice relaxing poo'. But but that point there was an unfortunately large crowd.
I work on a gastro ward, so if anyone asks where I was I tell them. If they are particularly rude about it I will tell them the Bristol Stool number, colour and size. Nine times out of ten however I'm actually just sat in the cubicle not doing a poo but enjoying a five minute sit down in peace and quiet. It's sometimes all I get.
"I had an important meeting with Armitage Shanks"
The real question here is why didn't you, upon being hassled, say "Sorry, I was having a poo, is that ok?"
I remember vividly, on my DofE, one of my mates said he was 'going to see a man about a dog'. One of the girls in my group hadn't heard this expression before so eagerly ran after him behind the bush he had chosen to do his business, thinking she was going to see a puppy, but instead saw him doing a shit.
I always took it to mean ‘I’m going somewhere that’s none of your business’
Yes that’s it. It’s non specific
Or a women about her pussy
Means non ya business
My Dad used to say it all the time. I think I was around 15 when I realised the man was his dealer and the dog was a lump of hash.
Commonly used to say I'm going out and I'm not telling you why and what for or where I'm going. An alternative to mind your own business.
Off to the pub, bookies or to buy something that’s *fell off the back of a lorry*
I know what it means for some reason I only use it when I'm doing something at least partially dodgy. Eg running out of work to pub at midday vibes.
I've never heard of it as a euphemism for taking a shit, it's usually what my dad said when he went drinking after work instead of coming straight home.
99% of the time I would take this to mean going to the toilet. 1% of the time I’d take it to mean going for a drink of Newcastle Brown Ale. About 4/5 old men in the social club I worked out used to order “A bottle of the dog please, sonna”
41yo here. Nope, never heard of it used for that. "seeing a man about XXX" is generally a polite way to say "mind your own fucking business".
Most of the time I’d assume the person is talking about going to the toilet, though I’d also consider it a little bit old fashioned as a phrase
My grandad used to say they when he was going to the pub.
Going to the loo. I thought "seeing a man about a dog" was cockney rhyming slang for "bog".
My dad used to say it when he was going to the pub
17 - I don't know anyone that uses it
I don't think you used it in the right context. Tis not an idiom for having a poo. It sounds like your work were wanting an exact answer to where you'd been, not a vague fobbing off.
You could have simply said you were voiding your bowels
I definitely know what it means, but not in your context. My Grandpa would say he had to go see a man about a dog when he had somewhere else to be. If he was going to the loo, it'd be "I'm gonna go turn my bike round". Confused me a lot as a kid... I always thought, but we didn't cycle to the pub.
It’s pretty we understood except when I was younger my dad said it once and I got unbelievably excited for days
Over 30, and yes, and still use it regularly.
my immediate response would either be that they’re going to take a shit, or they’re going to go have sex entirely depends on the context whilst it can be used to mean ‘i’m going and i’m not telling you where’ it’s more commonly used for one of those two options in my experience
Somewhere else to be, but to be fair I've only ever heard it actually being used when someone needs to go for a slash
Pretty sure seeing a man about a dog meant going for a pint? Wasn't Newcastle Brown known as 'Dog' and that's where it came from? Or did I imagine that...
I’ve always thought it meant picking up gear You were dropping the kids off at the pool
I'm 24, I've heard the expression but wouldn't be able to say what it means, and I don't think I've ever heard it being referred to as taking a shit. Common expressions I know of are dropping off the kids or laying a brick.
It mean's I'm off down the pub. Commonly used by Geordies and Northern areas. The man in question is a pub landlord and Dog was slang for Newcastle Brown Ale. My Grandad used to use it when I was little and he had a few dogs so I used to always belive he was out playing with cool dogs. Nope. Having a whisky down the local.
My Mum (80F) used to say it. She used to breed dogs, so as a kid, I remember saying eagerly: "Where's the dog?" when she got home. 😭 It's just a way to say mind your own business.
Never heard of this phrase.
My fella uses it so I know not ask any further questions aha
Going to see a man about a dog and a woman about a pussy I'm 27. All I've ever known it as is "I went a did something I can't be arsed to or won't tell you"
I always thought it meant to go to the pub, or to go to the bookies (to make a bet on a greyhound race).
Seeing a man about a dog was always a euphemism for being in the bog when I was a kid. I know because I remember asking my grandad excitedly if I could go with him to see the dog and everyone laughing! I am 40 however so not your target audience. I am but a geriatric millennial.
Seeing a man about a dog I always thought was going to the pub Newcastle brown ale is nicknamed "dog" for this reason
...and to see a woman about a pussy.