dogsbody

English

WOTD – 24 November 2008

Etymology

From dog +‎ -s- +‎ body. 1818, British navy slang, originally derogatory reference to unappetizing pease pudding (compare dog's breakfast), as if it were made of mashed dog meat. In 20th century applied to low-ranked sailors, thence menial servants in wider usage.

Pronunciation

• (British) IPA^(key): /ˈdɒɡz.bɒ.dɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔɡz.bɑ.di/, /ˈdɑɡz.bɑ.di/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

dogsbody (plural dogsbodies)

1. (British, Ireland) A person who does menial work, a servant.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     Who chose this face for me? This dogsbody to rid of vermin.

   • 1976, “Anarchy in the U.K.”, performed by Sex Pistols:

     'Cause I, I wanna be anarchy! / No dogsbody!

   • 1994, Blackadder (television production):

     That's just Baldrick, my dogsbody.

   • 1995, Paul Kussmaul, Training The Translator, John Benjamins Publishing Co, page 146:

     Furthermore, there are still rather backward opinions in our society about the role of a translator. A translator is often regarded as a linguistic dogsbody.

Synonyms

• factotum
• gofer
• handyman
• jack of all trades
• odd job

Translations

Person who does menial work

• Czech: poskok (cs) m
• Esperanto: komisiito, sendito, kuriero (eo)
• Finnish: juoksupoika (fi)
• French: larbin (fr) m, petite main (fr) f
• German: Handlanger (de) m, Diener (de) m, Scherge (de) m
• Maori: tonotono
• Spanish: mandado (es) m

Verb

dogsbody (third-person singular simple present dogsbodies, present participle dogsbodying, simple past and past participle dogsbodied)

1. To act as a dogsbody, to do menial work:
   • 1989, Tim Parks, Family Planning:

     Perhaps because, having been brought up in all those different countries and languages, and then studying economics of all things for just a year, followed by four years dogsbodying for a haulage company, he had never got any serious reading done.

References

• “dogsbody”, A.Word.A.Day, Anu Garg, Wordsmith.org
• “And, of course, the poloponies, Word Detective, Evan Morris, 1997–07–01