| 释义 |
why keep a dog and bark yourself why keep a dog and bark yourselfWhy do something that someone else is paid to do? I don't know why she's vacuuming when her cleaning lady is coming over tomorrow. Why keep a dog and bark yourself?See also: and, bark, dog, keep, whyWhy keep a dog and bark yourself?Prov. You should not do something you have hired someone else to do. Ellen: The cleaning lady washes my floors every Tuesday, but I always wash them over again. Jane: Don't be silly, Ellen. Why keep a dog and bark yourself?See also: and, bark, dog, keep, whywhy keep a ˌdog and bark yourˈself? (informal, saying) if somebody can do a task for you, there is no point in doing it yourself: My mother always cleans the house before the cleaning lady comes, but why keep a dog and bark yourself?See also: and, bark, dog, keep, whyWhy keep a dog and bark yourselfDon't do a chore that should be done by someone you hired to do it. A literal example of the expression would be a home owner who buys, trains, and maintains a guard dog, but stays up all night in case of intruders. Jonathan Swift in Polite Conversation wrote this exchange between a woman of quality and her servant: “‘Good Miss, stir the Fire.' ‘Indeed your Ladyship could have stirr'd it much better.' [To which the woman replied] ‘I won't keep a Dog and bark myself.'”See also: and, bark, dog, keep, why |