# could not get elected dogcatcher
## English
### Etymology

Dogcatchers are virtually never elected to their posts; the phrase is hyperbole, using dogcatcher to indicate the most lowly conceivable office.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /kəd ˌnɒt ɡɛt ɪˌlɛktɪd ˈdɒɡkæt͡ʃə/
* (General American) IPA: /kəd ˌnɑt ɡɛt əˌlɛktɪd ˈdɔɡˌkæt͡ʃəɹ/, /-iˌlɛktɪd-/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Hyphenation: could not get elect‧ed dog‧catch‧er

### Phrase

could not get elected dogcatcher
* (idiomatic, chiefly US, politics, hyperbolic) Said of someone, particularly a politician, who is extremely unpopular. [from late 19th c.]
** 1889 February 18, Chicago Herald, quotee, “Unpopular with rascals”, in The Courier-Journal, volume LXXIV, number 7,355 (New Series), Louisville, Ky.: Louisville Courier-Journal Print. Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 6:An insolent Republican newspaper asserts that Mr. [Grover] Cleveland is so unpopular in Washington that he could not be elected dog catcher for the district. This may be true, yet Mr. Cleveland has caught a great many dogs in his day—stealing. His success in that line would naturally make him unpopular with the claims agents and other parasites that throng the capital.
** 1918 October 15, “The City Manager Plan. [Condenst Paragrafs.]”, in J. W. Scroogs, editor, University of Oklahoma Bulletin (New Series; no. 156; University Extension Series; no. 43), Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma, →OCLC, page 60:It is a well known fact that the average American town will not elect well educated men to municipal offices if they can help it. A man who wears kid gloves and a plug hat couldn't be elected dog catcher in any town in Oklahoma. That is why the affirmative wish the city manager to be elected by a commission.
** 2006 October, credited to Robert Ludlum, chapter 15, in The Bancroft Strategy, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 264: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.The title page of the work states: “Since his death [in 2001] the Estate of Robert Ludlum has worked with a carefully selected author and editor to prepare and edit this work for publication.”
** 2010 September 12, Philip Eliot, “GOP Tries to Take Out Tea Party-backed Candidate”, in Yahoo! News‎, archived from the original on 2010-09-22:"She [Christine O'Donnell]'s not a viable candidate for any office in the state of Delaware," said the state party chairman, Tom Ross, who is backing [Mike] Castle. "She could not be elected dog catcher."
** 2017 October 25, John L. Micek, “Trump just keeps digging deeper and deeper”, in The Courier-Journal‎, Louisville, Ky.: Gannett, →ISSN, →OCLC:[Donald] Trump, who has a glancing relationship with the truth and speaks English only as a second language, has hurled his insults at [Bob] Corker (whom he said couldn't get elected dog-catcher in his home state) and at [John] McCain – even as he journeyed to Capitol Hill to try to build support for tax reform.

#### Usage notes

* Also appears in variant forms such as could not be elected dogcatcher and couldn’t get elected dogcatcher.

#### Related terms

* unelectable

#### See also

* run like a dry creek

### References

* ↑ Christopher Beam (2010 November 5) “Dog Race: Is Dogcatcher Actually an Elective Office?”, in Slate‎, New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2011-09-07.