June 05, 2008

Underdog

Underdog - One that is at a disadvantage.


I always thought that the “dog” bit here referred to dogfight. But as they say, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing". So a little bird-dogging revealed that instead of canine reference, dog in underdog is actually a plank of wood. The word supposedly originates from shipbuilding where the planks of wood (called dogs) were sawn for their construction. The senior saws-man stood on top of the plank and he was the overdog. The junior had to go below the planks. And…….. no brownie points for guessing that he was called the "underdog". As simple as that! :)
Source: Wikipedia, Answers.com

6 comments:

Unknown said...

excellent post. (hope i got the spelling right!) Good to see your posts, hopefully i shall come up with one soon.

Unknown said...

hhmm.. ur request is still in my mind and it shall be processed positively by end of day tommorow. Apologies for the inordinate delay. Cheers.

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

666: I am trying my level best to keep this going .....look fwd to your posts :)

and tomorrow never comes??? ;DDD

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

oh wait, it did!!!!! sorry about that!!! I did not really check......knowing you, i should have known that u had it up..danke!!!!! and now it's time for me to live up to my word :)

Unknown said...

wow..this word was always favorite..but never knew the story behind it.
By the way , I am sorry for being too lazy to post anything.I promise a post this weekend for sure.

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

yogsma: you better keep your word :) :)