Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2024 June 25

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June 25

Get along little dogies

In this song, "dogies" means motherless calves. But many people make the mistake of thinking it means puppy dogs. Is this mistake really common?? Georgia guy (talk) 14:29, 25 June 2024 (UTC)

Dogie is spelled and pronounced differently from doggy, so I don't think the mistake would be any more common than confusion between, say, bogie and boggy etc. Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:08, 25 June 2024 (UTC)

I (elderly Brit, familiar with the song) have never encountered this misunderstanding, but then how often would it be revealed – cowboy-song lyrics are not often a topic of conversation around these here parts. What's your basis for saying "many people make the mistake . . ."? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 151.227.226.178 (talk) 15:48, 25 June 2024 (UTC)

When have you heard it pronounced "doggy"? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:11, 25 June 2024 (UTC)

The 'Mac' (Harry McClintock) "Victor" 78 V-40016-B has has "Get Along, Little Doggies" on the label. His pronunciation is, to my ears, somewhere between what I would write as "dogies" and "doggies". DuncanHill (talk) 18:02, 25 June 2024 (UTC)

"Dogie" isn't a word most people are familiar with. It would be easy for someone seeing the lyrics (or having the word spelt for them after hearing the song) to wonder why "doggy" was being mispelled and mispronounced in the song and what dogs had to do with cowboys and such. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 12:04, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

Weird side note. I am an American, but "spelt" seemed better for this particular usage than "spelled" or "spelled out". It's a weird case of using a more often British/Commonwealth spelling in a specific context in an American text. I've noticed that there are specific contexts where I use "amongst" instead of "among" as well. Is this just me? Is this a general Southern US thing (being as I am from NC)? -- User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 12:09, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

Sign outside a pet store selling dachshunds: "Get a long little doggy!" Not great, perhaps, but it was funny to me when I heard it forty years ago. I think Khajidha has it right: dogie is not a word that people use much any more. I suspect people encountering it for the first time assume it's humorously equating cattle with something much smaller. Matt Deres (talk) 17:27, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

So far we have only had speculations and suspicions. What actual evidence is there that "many people" really do think it means "puppy dogs" rather than some kind of cattle? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 151.227.226.178 (talk) 18:08, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

With the declining popularity of Westerns, I doubt that many people have even heard it uttered. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:19, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

My wife likes to make the "long little dogie" joke anytime she encounters such a canine. Most people give blank looks. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 15:52, 28 June 2024 (UTC)