# Things you don't say around the dog **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 9, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559 "2010-06-09T17:59:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/21 "2010-06-09T20:21:48Z")
> [@rayman5321](#): > > The term “Jap” is very perjorative. Please use the term “Japanese Maple”. Wouldn’t it be safer just to call it a [いろは紅葉](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_maple)? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/22 "2010-06-09T20:29:42Z")
> [@silk1976](#): > > If my dog sees me put anything on other than work clothes and shoes (like a pair of shorts and a t-shit), he gets all excited and looks at me like ‘are we going to the park?’ Isn’t it weird that they know the difference in what your clothes look like?! I wear pajamas all day - different pattern every few days but still pajama pants and t-shirt (I work from home). I let the dog out and in all day. Sometimes I’ll let her out then get dressed for whatever. If I come to the door to let her in wearing shorts/jeans, she goes nuts. How does she know?! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/23 "2010-06-09T20:32:41Z")
Maybe she sees the t-shit and thinks it’s time for a shit? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![smee\_goan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@smee\_goan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smee_goan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/24 "2010-06-09T20:47:49Z")
Reminds me of the new “Alice In Wonderland” DVD out, That talking Beagle rocked… Yeah he’s in there-Johnny Depp ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/25 "2010-06-09T21:21:50Z")
Pretty much the word GO in any sentence starts them up. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/26 "2010-06-10T00:28:23Z")
> [@rayman5321](#): > > The term “Jap” is very perjorative. Please use the term “Japanese Maple”. Edited OP accordingly. **Moderator note** : **MercyStreet** , while I appreciate the fact that you didn’t intend it that way, the three letter colloquiallism for Japanese is still an ethnic slur however you slice it. Please be mindful of this in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/27 "2010-06-10T03:03:32Z")
I thought the “squirrel” thing was a myth. First time I heard about it was in the movie Up. 😃 My wife and I can’t say “let’s go \_\_\_\_\_\_” in front of our dog. The dog immediately grabs her collar and leash and starts slapping it on the ground threateningly. She’ll also wave it around and plop it in our laps. Sometimes, we just can’t take her with us though, like when I know we’re going to Costco or some place where she has to spend more than one hour in an uncovered car. While we’re walking, we can’t say “park” or “ride.” The dog will immediately start dragging us in that direction. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/28 "2010-06-10T03:17:59Z")
“Get 'em!” Much barking and chasing ensues. But in comes in handy trying to get the kids out of bed for school. ---
**Author:** ![Acantha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@Acantha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acantha)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/29 "2010-06-10T04:43:51Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Walk. We spell it out to each other, as in “Are you going to take the dog for a W-A-L-K?” > > I think the dog is learning how to spell though. I had a dog once who would start dancing around and wagging his tail when we would spell out W-A-L-K. He figured it out when we stopped using the word and started spelling it. I suspect yours will as well. ---
**Author:** ![markm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@markm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markm)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/30 "2010-06-10T15:41:42Z")
My late dog, the best to ever walk this planet, made me go from using “walk” to “w-a-l-k” to eventually “dub” (for ‘w’) because he learned what they each meant. You also could not say ‘treat’, ‘car’, ‘ride’, or the name of a local state park. You also couldn’t have any chain-type noises (even on TV, such as the chain weapon scene in Kill Bill), or he’d come running, thinking someone had his leash. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/31 "2010-06-10T16:20:03Z")
We also have a retired greyhound and we can’t even get to words - picking up the harness results in being tackled, and it doesn’t matter if he is at the opposite end of the house or even outside. I find it hard to believe his hearing is _that_ sensitive - it’s got to be some kind of dogdar or something. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/32 "2010-06-10T16:21:21Z")
We now have to spell W A L K as well as B E A C H. But I think our dogs are learning how to sound out words. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/33 "2010-06-10T17:36:09Z")
Anything that rhymes with “cookie”. ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/34 "2010-06-10T18:07:56Z")
Our dog would go absolutely batty if you said ‘shit!’ It was what my mom would always say if she dropped something AND IT COULD BE FOOD! She came to that word more often than to her own name, bless her. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/35 "2010-06-10T18:14:38Z")
“Grandpa”. My in-laws live two doors down from us, and the dog absolutely loves my FIL. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that he gives the fricking dog all the cheese and other various people foods that he can eat no matter how many time I tell him not to. The end result is the dog loves grandpa, and I’m stuck cleaning up the resulting diarrhea. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/36 "2010-06-10T18:21:44Z")
Sadie, our old Boxer, had a large and varied vocabulary that commonly got us in trouble. Her magic word was “Smitty’s”, the name of a dumpy drive-in we would go to in Hampton, VA. If you said that name, her head would whip around so fast you were surprised her neck didn’t break. Among the present crowd, “out”, “bye-bye”, “dump” (taking trash to the dump, a guaranteed ride for one of them), and “paper” (similar to dump, but to get a newspaper from a vending box) are the biggies, but nothing like old Sadie and the drive-in. Any of our dogs would sell their puny little souls for a ride in the car. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/37 "2010-06-10T19:49:44Z")
Some friends of mine had an American Brown Dog (mutt) that recently passed away. While he was alive, they had to have “square pancakes” for breakfast… if you said “waffles” it apparently sounded too much like “walk” and he would bound around in happy circles. ---
**Author:** ![Notchimine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bcef8e/32.png) [@Notchimine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Notchimine)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/38 "2010-06-10T19:51:07Z")
“Bunny” sends them running for the hutch at lightening speed. We have no idea why. It isn’t like we allow them to play with the bunny. They are just interested in seeing him being taken out of the bunny house. Or maybe they are hoping we look away long enough so they can eat him. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/39 "2010-06-10T20:10:15Z")
Not too much mayhem ensues, but my three puggies reacted much as the three puggies on [this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uuqXXT7VYo&feature=channel) react when certain phrases are recited. Well, maybe neck vertebrae trauma ensues, at any rate! ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559/40 "2010-06-10T21:44:27Z")
[del]Shall we take her?[/del] [del]take?[/del] [del] T…A…[/del] [del]Do you think our female canine companion would enjoy an automotive outing?[/del] She knew perfectly well when she was being discussed. If we were puttering around or getting ready to go anywhere, any utterance in the shape of a question, especially if it included the word ‘take’ would drive our dog into of fits of whirling happy. …and you couldn’t say ‘bone’ either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-dont-say-around-the-dog/542559.md?page=3)