Hey, old fen on my flist?

[beetiger]

Anyone know/have a plausible theory on the origins of the phrase "dead dog party"?

Comments

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

I always thought it had to do with the Sea Dogs having an after hours party at ren faire...

... although there seems to be a lot of pages linking Dead Dogs to the start of the Black Plague...

... but I got nothing, really. Sorry.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

All I know for sure is that it was in currency back in the late 70s when I started going to cons.

I would guess it has something to being "dog-tired" at the end of a con, but that's just pulled straight outta my ass with no supporting theory.

[cowboy-r.livejournal.com]

"Beating a dead dog," which has the same meaning as "beating a dead horse," to go on doing something long after its effectiveness has passed.

[robocoon.livejournal.com]

I thought it was because it was at the end/just slightly after the convention, and everyone is beat from running around all weekend, so they go to one last party to "finish themselves off", thereby becoming "dead dogs". Also some sort of double entendre involving what cowboy_r said.

mixing metaphors

[onecrazymother.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of that... it makes me think of a "yellow dog" whatever-party. As in, if I said I was a yellow-dog democrat, I would mean that if the democrats decided to run a yellow dog for office, I would vote fore it. (Further deconstructing... meaning I would vote for the party line no matter what.)

But that's not what ou asked about.

[bookwurm.livejournal.com]

I always assumed that it was related to the saying about sticking with something "until the last dog dies" (i.e. until the very end). However, I've never heard anyone say that, and "dead dog party" was in use long before I started going to conventions seriously enough to attend the party.

[terrana.livejournal.com]

I have no idea about its origins, but I would be very interested to know what it means. It's not a phrase I've ever encountered before.