Journalism 101 teaches that while a dog biting a man is no news, a man biting a dog is. Future generations of journalism students would remember the lesson that to call other men dogs is an invitation to controversy.

Those who walked their dogs to the China liaison office in protest should think better than to put their best friends to such an undignified toil. Man’s language has been enriched by close observation of his canine friend. Examples abound in our everyday speech, of which the following is a minuscule sample.

Let sleeping dogs lie

An English proverb which cautions against the kicking up of fuss and advises one to leave undisturbed something deemed to be potentially dangerous or difficult to handle.

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks

Another proverb that bemoans the human propensity to not readily accept new things or points of view.

A barking dog never bites

This is akin to a local saying that dogs that don’t bark bite. Don’t be bothered by the loud barks but be afraid when you don’t see fangs.

Barking up the wrong tree

If someone is pursuing an argument based on mistaken facts or reasoning and completely confuses the issue, he/she is barking up the wrong tree.

Editor
www.iso.cuhk.edu.hk/english/features/style-speaks/index.html