SHAGGY DOG:TO BE taken to the cleanersmeans you have been the victim of a con and, as a result, lost most or all of your money, writes Albert Jack.
During the 1800s, the expression "to be cleaned out" was in regular use to explain a situation where a person had been "stripped clean" or "cleaned" of their possessions, either by fraud or as a result of gambling losses.
The phrase changed slightly during the 20th century with the introduction of dry cleaners, and from then on any careless person could be "taken there".
• A goody two shoesis a person who behaves in an impeccable manner but is perhaps sometimes a little smug about this.
The expression is another of those lifted directly from literature and the imagination of a creative writer, in this case Irishman Oliver Goldsmith.
In 1765, Goldsmith released his latest children's tale, entitled, in the characteristically longwinded style of the time, The History of Little Goody Two Shoes, otherwise called Mrs Margery Two Shoes, with the Means by Which She Acquired Her Learning and Wisdom, and in Consequence Thereof her Estate; Set Forth at Large for the Benefit of Those Who From a State of Rags and Care and Having Shoes but Half a Pair; Their Fortune and their Fame Would Fix, and Gallop in a Coach and Six.
(Despite this, it still sold in large numbers, apparently.)
John Newbery then published Goldsmith's tale, in which the central character owned only one shoe, although when she was finally given a pair for being good, she proudly showed them off to everybody, exclaiming "look, two shoes" - and hence the expression was created.
• When a person is not keen to tell us where they are going, they may instead remark that they are off to see a man about a dog.
During the age of Victorian music hall and theatre, a popular play called Flying Scud(1866) by Dion Boucicault (one of the most successful playwrights of the 19th century), was produced first in London and opened in New York soon afterwards.
Whenever the lead character found himself in an awkward situation, he would take his leave by announcing he "had to see a man about a dog".
Audiences found this very funny, and people were soon copying the expression on both sides of the Atlantic to explain their whereabouts.
Extracted fromShaggy Dogs and Black Sheep by Albert Jack, published by Penguin.