could not get elected dogcatcher
English
Etymology
US, 1880s.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Phrase
could not get elected dogcatcher
- (idiomatic, chiefly US, politics) Said of someone of unpopular status, particularly of politicians.
- 1889, Weekly Courier Journal (Louisville, Kentucky):
- [president Grover Cleveland is] so unpopular in Washington that he could not be elected dog catcher for the district.
- 1922, J. W. Scroogs, The City Manager Plan, page 60:
- A man who wears kid gloves and a plug hat couldn't be elected dog catcher in any town in Oklahoma.
- 2007, Robert Ludlum, The Bancroft Strategy, page 348:
- Men like him couldn't get elected dogcatcher. He was a natural lieutenant, not a leader, and it was a fact he accepted with neither bitterness nor regret.
- 1889, Weekly Courier Journal (Louisville, Kentucky):
Usage notes
Dogcatcher is virtually never an elected office; the phrase is hyperbole, using dogcatcher to indicate “the most lowly conceivable office”.
See also
- run like a dry creek
References
- Dog Race: Is Dogcatcher Actually an Elective Office?, Christopher Beam, Slate.com, Nov. 5, 2010