Findong Nemo is my 2 year-old daughter’s favorite movie, which means we watch it a lot. Luckily, it’s also an extremely well done movie in terms of animation, and it’s interesting to look for new things I hadn’t noticed in prior viewings.
This question has nothing to do with those interesting things, however. There is one part of the movie where the Aussie dentist proclaims to his patient that he’s “Going to see a man about a wallabee” and then he proceeds to head into the bathroom.
I’m curious as to where this euphamism comes from, and what it means. He doesn’t seem to be in there very long, so I am assuming he’s taking a piss, but he could just be washing his hands or…what?
I though the standard phrase was “going to see a man about a dog”. (And the dentist’s office is in Sydney, so he’s far more likely to see a dog than a wallaby or a horse on his way to the toilet).
Well I’ve heard the phrase “going to see a man about a horse” used as a eumphemism for going to take a piss. I assumed this was just an “Aussie” twist on the phrase, although I’m not sure if it’s in actual usage, or if they just made it up for the movie.
Google has 19,400 for “see a man about a horse” and 23,800 for “see a man about a dog” – so it looks like both phrases are about equally popular for the same thing.
I was once at a staff meeting at a veterinary hospital. A veterinarian who was a Texan used the “see a man about a dog” phrase. It caused some problems. The owner of the practice had specifically told the receptionists that the meeting was to be prioritized. He was yelling at the receptionists when the Texan came walking out of the men’s room. Nobody other than Tex had ever heard the phrase before.
That actually makes sense. Kind of like saying to one’s self “I have to take a pee, but it’s rather rude to announce it to everyone. So, I’ll use the excuse of having to talk to my bookie about placing a bet at the track.”
“See a man about a [dog|horse]” can also mean to go get liquor or drugs. My understanding is that it’s an all-purpose polite excuse to go off and do something that’s not socially acceptable to explicitly mention. It’s a generic euphemism.
Around here, we say “Gotta see a man about a mule,” to mean go to the bathroom or alternatively, I always hear "I gotta pee like a Russian (or maybe just rushin’) Racehorse. Might be a KY thing.