Where does this saying come from?

Question

"I am going to see a man about a dog?" I was in a church meeting this morning and someone said that but none of us could work out where the saying comes from or what it's original meaning was!!
I said that I would ask and see if anyone came up with an answer.

Answer 1

When someone says that they are going to see a man about a dog they really mean that they are unwilling to reveal the true nature of their business.
The expression comes from the long forgotten 1866 play Flying Scud by a prolific Irish-born playwright of the period named Dion Boucicault. One of the characters uses the words as an excuse to get away from a tricky situation. This character, an eccentric and superannuated old jockey, says: "Excuse me Mr. Quail, I can't stop; I've got to see a man about a dog". This is the only thing that seems to have survived from the play.

Answer 2

Apparently the first recorded use of this term was in 1866, in the drama of one Dion Boucicault entitled "The Flying Scud or a Four-legged Fortune", which might have been lost to posterity but for its subsequent appearance in a book called "America’s Lost Plays". The line read:“Excuse me Mr. Quail, I can’t stop; I’ve got to see a man about a dog”. There is nothing to suggest that this was the origin of the phrase: simply that it was in common use 150 years ago. From the context it might have been a euphemism for going to the toilet, for taking an illicit drink, or for getting up to some hanky panky with his mistress.

This doesn't, of course, explain its origins!

Answer 3

Like a lot of such colloquial sayings, it is very badly recorded. However, an example turned up in 1940 in a book called America’s Lost Plays, which proved that it was already in use in the US in 1866, in a work by a prolific Irish-born playwright of the period named Dion Boucicault, The Flying Scud or a Four-legged Fortune. This play, about an eccentric and superannuated old jockey, may have been, as a snooty reviewer of the period remarked, “a drama which in motive and story has nothing to commend it”, but it does include our first known appearance of the phrase: “Excuse me Mr. Quail, I can’t stop; I’ve got to see a man about a dog”.

I don’t have access to the text of the play itself, so can’t say why the speaker had to absent himself. From other references at the time there were three possibilities: 1) he needed to visit the loo (read WC, toilet, or bathroom if you prefer); 2) he was in urgent need of a restorative drink, presumed alcoholic; or 3) he had a similarly urgent need to visit his mistress.

Answer 4

I believe it originated in the 1800's ... though not sure exactly what year.
In today's world though I think when someone says they are going to see a man about a dog, what they are nicely saying is where they are going is none of your business.
They could be on their way to the bathroom or to meet up with their seret lover. But it's none of your business.
Whenever I would ask my dad where he was going, he'd always say, I'm going to the corner to buy a red pencil. Now what do you suppose that meant?

Answer 5

The phrase "see a man about a dog" appeared in the 1866 play "The Flying Scud" by Irish actor and playright Dion Boucicault (1820-1890). Following is the relevant quote from the play:

"Excuse me Mr. Quail, I can’t stop; I’ve got to see a man about a dog."

It caught on!!

Answer 6

I read all your response and surprise to all of their answers. I always thought that it means to go to clear up the problem with the neighbor. Now I am not sure what it means.

Answer 7

I use it as a polite way of saying "its none of your business where I'm going and who I'm going to see"

Answer 8

It means absenting oneself from the company

Answer 9

my grandad used to say that if i asked where he was going (down the pub) :::: its said so as not to tell the real location

Answer 10

Thats means he has to pee. (it's usually 'man about a horse'.)