Nautical Sayings - Dogs Body
Tuesday February 3rd, 2009
IT’S A DOGS LIFE – SORT OF!
With the world recession and the credit crunch putting thousands out of work, for many the unfortunate victims even a job as a general dogsbody may start to seem appealing. But hang on a minute. What actually is a ‘dogsbody’? We all know it refers to someone who works menially so why would they be called a dog’s body?
Apparently in bygone days aboard passenger carrying ships, leftovers from meals were often mixed with ships biscuits to feed the lowliest staff. The mixture was nicknamed dogsbody. The knock on effect was that not only were these poor wretches underpaid and undernourished they were also nicknamed dogsbodies after the slop they were fed.
