My boyfriend just said something non-amusing to me and I told my dog to “sick 'em.”
Then I asked my boyfriend what the origin of the phrase was. I thought maybe it meant attack until you make so-and-so sick. Our best guess, then we decided to “dope” it.
Any ideas?
Usually spelled “sic”, it’s a variant of “seek”.
(Cite)
It’s “sic.” According to Answers.com, it’s a dialect variant of “seek.”
I think it’s “sic 'em” not “sick-em”
Good. Now let’s all simulpost on the joke where we requote the OP with “[sic]” inserted.
Outstanding…thanks guys!
When I was a lad, we had different dogs who knew the term well.
Say we were moving pigs from one place to another. If one proved uncooperative, a “Sic 'em!” would result in a torrent of all kinds of hell on the recalcitrant pig by the dog*. We would get them where we wanted.
A female collie, Candy, was the absolute best at adjusting porcine attitude. She could clear a five-foot fence with ease and sometimes herded the pigs just for her own enjoyment. Gotta love that.
*Actually, they were mostly “bitches”, but why inject technicalities?
We also had a female beagle who would “sing” upon request. “ArooOOOOO”.
What could be cooler?
A beagle that would STFU on request.
twicks, who wasn’t all that sorry when the next-door neighbor’s fat beagle with bladder-control issues died.
All these simulposts make me sic.
Obligatory Stand By Me reference.
And then there’s the t-shirt.
Remind me, please?
Chopper, sic balls.
I’m still blanking. Sorry, it’s been a long time.
The junkyard scene. Rumor had it the junkyard owner had trained his dog to sic, I believe the phrase used is, “specific parts of a kids anatomy.”
Poor Gordon. I guess the leach thought the junkyard keeper was talking to him.
Although “sic-em” is technically more correct, I really do enjoy thinking of it as “sick-em”, since I tend to warn victims that my dog has rabies just before giving the attack order…
LOL, yep! Barky beagles are a real nightmare.