i heard this phrase in a movie - and no where else..?

Question

in the movie sweet home alabama, melanie's mom says - if i had known company was coming, i'd have put on the dog - what does that mean?

i'm from the south - and NEVER heard that phrase.

Answer 1

[Q] From Ken Blose (Dennis Montgomery posed a related question): “While serving as a tour guide at a museum, an English lady told me that, in the days of castles, the very finest shoes were made of dog skin. So if you were invited to the castle for a party or event, you would dress in your finest, and for shoes, you would put on the dog, meaning shoes made of dog skin!”

[A] Inventive, these English. Firstly, to put on the dog (or to put on dog, in the form I learnt it) is first recorded only in 1871, in a book by L H Bagg called Four Years at Yale: “Dog, style, splurge. To put on dog, is to make a flashy display, to cut a swell”, and is certainly a US expression. So there’s really no chance at all of an English medieval origin. It has been suggested that it developed out of the rise in popularity of ladies’ lap dogs in the period after the American Civil War. Such animals were presumably pampered and beribboned, and this might have suggested that to put on the dog was to show off. This has the ring of a story made up after the event, but it’s the only explanation I’ve come across.

Answer 2

To make a show of wealth or elegance:

“The annual ball gave everyone a chance to dress up and 'put on the dog'.”

It's from the 1860's. At the same time the slang word 'doggy' was popular which meant : attractively stylish; costly; fancy

So in the movie, if she had known she would have had company coming, she would have dressed up and all that good stuff, to make an impression.

Answer 3

"Putting on the Dog" has had many redo's over the years.
It has bee called "Putting on the Ritz" made famous by the movie stars of the 40's-50's, such as Fred Astire & Frank Sintra, just to name a few.
"Putting on the Dog" is a slang for Wealth of Importance, especially by dressing stylish & flashy in the era you're living in.
It's an American slang recorded in 1860 in Lyman H. Braggs "4 Yrs. at Yale" which came out in 1871.
At the same time the adjective DOGGY was popular & used also as a shorter slang meanimg, ATTRACTIVE,STYLISH,COSTLY & FANCY.

Answer 4

Put on the dog as in putting the dog on guard.

It sounds like a joke, saying they would've put the dog to work so nobody came to call on them.

I'm not from the South, but this is just a personal guess.

Answer 5

I don't know where the saying originates from, but it means to go all out. To put forth a lot of effort. Kind of a dumb saying, eh?

Answer 6

I'm pretty sure she meant getting dolled up because she was barefoot and in the kitchen and wasn't ready for him to come over.

Answer 7

Never heard it either but I am guessing that it means cleaning up the place, fixing food, etc.

Answer 8

I think its referring to HOT DOGS...which is the same meat product as Bologna. And you always hear her talking about Bologna Cake. So.....I think its about the Bologna Cake...being a dog...hot dog...bologna. Ok, i think its filled in the gaps there and wrote bologna enough. haha.

Answer 9

I dont know what it means either... only thing i think of is hotdogs so maybe she was cookin up hotdogs for the guests.. that is probably SO wrong

Answer 10

"Putting on the dog" means making stuff fancy... like... putting on airs... dressing up, fluffing pillows, making a fancy meal, whatever