the tangents of my mind

After completing a paper on my hypothetical cultural diplomacy plans and a feature article on the advocacy for homelessness program I’ve been working with, naturally my thoughts returned to what is most important on this earth: me. I started thinking about the other night and tried to figure out the correlation between certain men’s actions and why some women refer to them as “dogs”. I have encountered my fair share of men in my chaotic yet beautiful nineteen years on this earth, and yes, some of them I could consider a “dog”. I wouldn’t go as far as referring to an entire gender as so, or maybe even at all. I think dogs are cute. Why is there this animalistic nickname given to a person judging by the way they act?

I got off the train the other night, Cinco de Mayo to be exact, with about seven of my girlfriends. We are all attractive girls there is no doubt about that, but I couldn’t help but notice the way that some of the guys act as poorly mannered as they do. It is almost as if some of them gather and just stare, similar to the way a dog would look as if we were walking around with pieces of raw meat tied to ourselves. While tying meat to my body is I’m positive a surefire way to gain attention from just about anyone, I’m not too into the idea. Women typically use the terminology “dog” while describing someone that I personally prefer to simply refer to as a “douchebag” or “asshole”.

A dog is usually described as “man’s best friend”. In fact, I love my dogs terribly; they are always there when I need them. If I’m bored I’ll play with them or walk them, if I’m sad I’ll just chill with them. I miss the days of being at home and taking a nap on my couch with Mac or Maisy. I alternate. It may or may not keep them interested. Why would I ever refer to someone as a dog when I love dogs? Did some girl who really loved cats decide that this expression was suitable? Fuck cats.

This then gets me thinking that when someone is referring to a girl that they don’t particularly like, or as most people in this world would refer to as utter “hatred” for someone, they use the term “bitch”. I used to use that word frequently because my douchebag boyfriend at the time would say dim-witted things like, “are you and the bitches going to come on Friday?” etc. etc. I eventually rid myself of the habit of saying as frequently as I did when I rid myself of him, however I will sometimes use it from time to time. A “bitch” is a female dog. So maybe that is where the less complex term “dog” came from. Why all the animal references?

People will sometimes say that so and so reminds them of a lion, cause lions are fierce and in-your-face. Or how an older woman seeking a younger guy is a cougar, cause cougars are I guess mysterious about getting their prey or something like that. I’ve also heard the term sneaky like a fox but you know what else are sneaky? Red ants. Who decided what personality trait matched the animal? If you ask me, the biggest douchebags of the animal kingdom are hippopotamuses or ginger kids.

I do not really know where I am getting at this but I do get somewhat of a kick out of the fact that both men and women are given shitty titles derived from the word “dog” by people who think poorly of them. I’m not sure whether or not to applaud myself or get a life for going off on a tangent about this particular topic, but whatever, I guess.