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The tail wagging the dog is an idiom that usually refers to something important or powerful being controlled by something less so. Its earliest use is in the 1858 play Our American Cousin. The 1997 film Wag the Dog shortened the phrase and added the additional meaning of "superfluous (military) action in order to distract from domestic scandal."
- The Tail Wagging The Dog
The meaning of THE TAIL WAGGING THE DOG is —used to describe...
- The Tail Wagging The Dog
3 days ago · The meaning of THE TAIL WAGGING THE DOG is —used to describe a situation in which an important or powerful person, organization, etc., is being controlled by someone or something that is much less important or powerful.
Candace Osmond. The tail wagging the dog is an idiom we use to allude to a situation where a minor or less significant part controls or influences the major or more important part. Simply put, the less significant details overshadow the main issue. Idioms like the tail wagging the dog are phrases where the words together mean different than ...
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This expression first appeared in the 1800s. Obviously, it comes from the idea that a dog wags its tail when it’s happy. Sometimes, a dog will be wagging its tail so much that it makes the dog’s entire body move, as if the tail is actually wagging the dog. It is unclear exactly where this phraseoriginated, but all of the earliest uses of it appear ...
Here is an example that involves two college students discussing the first day of their new classes. Robin: How was your class today? Harry: Not great. I think I’m going to drop this class and take a different one. Robin: Why? What happened? Harry: The class was all about Chinese history and modern culture. I wanted to take it for easy credit, sinc...
This excerpt is from an article about the behavior of student athletes. 1. We believe, looking at all of the factors including the students’ interest, the universities’ interest and not necessarily the coaches’ interest — this is not the tail wagging the dog — this is about getting it right, getting it right in a number of sets of circumstances. –U...
The idiom tail wagging the dog is a way to describe a small component of a whole dominating the whole.
Definition of tail wagging the dog in the Idioms Dictionary. tail wagging the dog phrase. What does tail wagging the dog expression mean? Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary.
President Harrison is at the head of his party, and Mr. Blaine is at the tail, but the recent proceedings at Cincinnati, and other occurrences all over the country, indicate that this is one of the rare cases where the tail will wag the dog, and not the dog the tail. Dundreary is a character of Tom Taylor’s play Our American Cousin. He was an ...
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THE TAIL WAGGING THE DOG definition: 1. a situation in which a large group has to do something to satisfy a small group 2. a situation…. Learn more.
