St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-08
SOME DOG PHR Asses.

Words i'm the Canine Vernacular
K Which Are More or Less Cor
rupted.
When a boy in New England has oc-
easiOn to 'set" his dog upon any one or
anything he exclams. as a rule, ''Stig
'im!" The New York boy. or the boy
of the West. generally says, ''Slc i'm!
Sic lint" TO the Western boy the com-
mand ''Stig 'im!" sounds absurd; it
provokes his laughter; but bis own
command is equally amusing to the New
England boy. This little difference
illustrates the beginning of local dialect,
says the Youths Companion. Probably
neither boy thinks of the exact meaning
of what he says. He is merely repeat
ing words which he has heard others
use, and which he is sure, from their
frequent repetition. that the dog Will
understand.
The boy who is saying ''sic 'em" is
repeating a corruption but one degree
removed from the words ''Seek him!'
which is very old command.
''Stig inn is corruption one degree
further removed from its original than
-''sic 'iul." 1t began with take him."
which was varied by the word $50 be-
fore it-"so take hlm" From this to
'S' take him' was an easy step, and the
more easily pronounced ''sug 'im,"
was the next corruption.
The $50 is often used as kind of
intensive expression in all sorts of COM
mandS to animals. Probably the ap-
parently unmeaning expression whlch
is often used in urging on dog, III the
Eastern part of the country, ''Steboyn'
= is no more than greatly compressed
and corrupted form of 80 take 'em,
h0y!" although, Emerson seems to have
looked upon it as an abbreVlatl0n OF
.'.hist, a bOyv
The farmer. by the way, is very fond
of calling his animals ''bOy." He says,
whoa, boy" and 60 on, boy" to his
horse; but it is worthy of notice that he,
never calls his horse 'boy'' unless he
feels in good humor with it. The word
is always to be regarded as a, compll-
lnent or expression Of affection. .,
.r1s0ften the possessor Of a dog does not
! animal to attack. He may say, ,''.CatcP
4IimI" or go for hlm!" or .'Seize him."
ef anything else which he chooses. 1t
is well known that the command to at
etack is the one which dog most easily
r,laarns. Almost anything will serve for
0kke purp ose; for most dogs, as we are
atEu1y told, delight to bark and Dlte."
( But they also delight to obey, and no
p spy0perly trained dog will attack with
ant command. except on his masters
premises at night -s.s. :. :.
.dt By seeming perversion of terms. the
!, command which most naturally signifies
In attack, Charge ~ has come to mean
! jgst the opposite thing. namely, to lie
4 down.
,iW Manys owners of dogs. in order to rem
der the animals useful to themselves.
s0nfy. train them to obey special cOm-
cmands invented by the master. A case
|, Isl known in which man taught his dog
to obey in reverse order, as it were.
When he said "COme hereP' the dog
ran away. and sect out" was his COM
mand TO the dog to approach.
No dog can be regarded as of much
use unless he understands and ODE VS.. at
least seven commands, namely: Here
or "come here" with which every
young dogs education should begin,
and which is the most important of all;
.ssc 'em" or take EN- charge" or
''lie down." 'heel" or follow close be-
hind. ''go home" ''get out" and don't
touch it" 'i.:-- :.e-: