Doggone It!

I've had some madness behind my method and all of these dog photos was purely for the reason of enlightening the masses with some Doggie Idioms.

1. 犬が西向きゃ尾は東 (Inu ga nishi mukya o wa higashi). This literally translates as: "When a dog faces west, the tail faces east" and can be used to state the obvious.

2. 犬死に (Inujini). This literally means to "die like a dog" and can be used to refer to one who has wasted their life. (I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it.)

3. 犬の遠吠え (Inu no tooboe). This is "the howling of a dog" and is used to refer to "An awake dog barks from afar at a sleeping lion." (I don't know what it means either, but one of my neighbours has a little cur that barks incessantly on weekends. I never hear it during the week, only when I'm hungover and trying to sleep.)

4. 犬も歩けば棒にあたる (Inu mo arukeba bou ni ataru). "When the dog walks, it runs across a stick" and means that when you walk outside, you could possibly meet with an unexpected fortune. "Every dog has its day." This is the Year of the DOG and since, it's my year, maybe something good will come my way (finally.)

5. 犬も食わない (Inu mo kuwanai). This literally means, "Even a dog won't eat it" or it is worthless (much like this blog...)

6. 飼い犬に手をかまれる (Kaiinu ni te o kamareru) This literally means,
"to have one's hand bitten by one's own dog" or to be betrayed by one's trusted friend.

7. 犬猿の仲 (Ken'en no naka). This is a "dog-and-monkey relationship." Two people who just can't get along or to fight like cats and dogs. In Japan, the traditional cat vs. dog relationship doesn't exist here. Rather it's dog vs. monkey!

8. 犬に論語 (Inu ni rongo). This literally means, "To read the Analects of Confucius to a dog." I love this one. It's like throwing "pearls before swine" or the fact that most of you had given up after the second idiom and you aren't even reading this one.