VOA Words and Their Stories - Dog and Horse Expressions

to lead a dog's life - describes a person who has an ​ (a)   existence.

• unhappy
• happy

Some people say we live in a dog-​ (a)   -dog world. That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs. They say that to be successful, a person has to ​ (b)   like a dog. This means they have to work very, very ​ (c)   . Such hard work can make people dog-​ (d)   . And, the situation would be even worse if they became ​ (e)   as a dog.

• eat
• sleep
• drink
• hard
• work
• read
• run
• tired
• exhausted
• sick

Still, people say every dog has its ​ (a)   . This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an ​ (b)   dog new ​ tricks . They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things.

Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways. People who are unkind or uncaring can be described as meaner than a ​ (c)   dog. Junkyard dogs live in places where people throw away things they do not want. Mean dogs are often used to guard this property. They bark or attack people who try to enter the property. However, sometimes a person who appears to be mean and threatening is really not so bad. We say his ​ (d)   is worse than his ​ (e)   .

• day
• old
• junkyard
• bark
• bite
• young
• backyard
• way
• dark
• smile

A junkyard is not a fun place for a dog. Many dogs in the United States sleep in safe little houses near their owners' home. These doghouses provide shelter. Yet they can be cold and lonely in the winter. Husbands and wives use this doghouse term when they are angry at each other. For example, a woman might get angry at her husband for coming home late or forgetting their wedding​ (a)   . She might tell him that he is in the doghouse. She may not treat him nicely until he apologizes. However, the husband may decide that it is best to leave things alone and not create more problems. He might decide to let sleeping dogs ​ (b)   . Dog expressions also are used to describe the weather. The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather. But we do not want it to rain too hard. We do not want it to​ (c)   ​ (d)   and dogs.

• lie
• rain
• cats
• anniversary
• bark
• snow
• birds
• rest
• calm

Today, we tell about "horse" expressions. In the past, many people depended on horses for transportation, farming and other kinds of work. A lot of people still like to ride horses. And, horse racing is also popular. So it is not surprising that Americans still use expressions about the animals. Long ago, people who were rich or important rode horses that were very tall. Today, if a girl acts like she is better than everyone else, you might say she should get off her (a)   . Yesterday my children wanted me to take them to the playground. But I had to finish my work, so I told them to (b)   . Wait until I finish what I am doing. My two boys like to compete against each other and play in a ​ (c)   way. I always tell them to stop (d)   or someone could get hurt. We live in a small town. It does not have any exciting activities to offer visitors. My children call it at a (e)   .

• high horse
• hold your horses
• horsing around
• one-horse town
• cat
• low car
• dog park
• green horse
• racing horse
• violent

Last night, I got a telephone call while I was watching my favorite television show. I decided not to answer it because (a)   could not drag me away from the television. There was nothing that could stop me from doing what I wanted to do. Sometimes you get information straight from the (b)   . It comes directly from the person who knows most about the subject and is the best ​ (c)   . Let us say your teacher tells you there is going to be a test tomorrow. You could say you got the information straight from the horse's mouth. However, you would not want to call your teacher a horse! You may have heard this expression: You can lead a horse to water, ​ (d)   . That means you can give someone (e)   but you cannot force him to do something he does not want to do.

• wild horses
• horse's mouth
• advice
• but you cannot make him drink
• domestic cats
• elephant's trunk
• instructions
• source

Sometimes a person fights a battle that has been decided or keeps arguing a question that has been settled. We say this is like beating a (a)   . In politics, a (b)   candidate is someone who is not well known to the public. Sometimes, a dark horse unexpectedly wins an election. Another piece of advice is, do not change horses in (c)   . You would not want to get off one horse and on to another in the middle of a river. Or make major changes in an activity that has already begun. In the past, this expression was used as an argument to (d)   a president, especially during a time when the country was at (e)   .

• dead horse
• dark-horse
• midstream
• re-elect
• war
• live horse
• unknown candidate
• change horses in a storm
• great horse