Discussion»Questions»Jobs» Is being a Dog Catcher that lowly a job? Why do folks use it as a putdown as in "he couldn't be elected Dog Catcher much less prez"? Anyone?
You are right, the is just one place where the dog-cather is elected, and none in Europe that I know of. "only one elected dogcatcher office exists, in Duxbury, Vermont." ref "Elected dogcatcher"
I honestly don't know JakobA. That's why I'm asking. What is the lowliest job you can think of that a human can have? I'm gonna ask that question. Undertaker? Hit man? Garbage picker upper? Shoeshine boy (do they still have those)? Thank you for your reply. Here goes! :)
I've had a chance to see animal control officers at work on many occasions. It's a difficult and dangerous job. Why they are picked on as a lower echelon job is beyond me because as far as I could see they earn what little they make.
Kind of funny when one contemplates the President running down the street in a tennis outfit holding a net and trying to catch a dog.
At least we know the freedom of said dog will never be compromised were such an even to occur.
I remember as a child hearing "dog-catcher" used as a term of opprobrium---and never understood "why"---most boys that age would have loved to catch dogs and bring them home. When I was an adult and had reason to seek "pet" information from the city, I ran across the term "animal control officer" and it made perfect sense as a category. Since then, I have assigned the phrase "dog-catcher" to my passive vocabulary.
All of which I mention to illuminate why I decided to search for "dog-catcher."
It turns out that it is a hyphenated word---so I had to change the spelling in my answer to include the "hyphen"; and its "informal" meaning isa low-level political official.
(Having sufficiently satisfied my curiosity, I did not seek the etymology of the word. If you do so, please share.)
EDIT: median salary of an animal control officer was $32,460 per year as of May 2011
This post was edited by tom jackson at October 26, 2017 3:23 AM MDT
Surely there are lower levels of political officials. President comes to mind. Thank you for your thoughtful and informative reply tom. I don't think the current prez plays tennis. Too arduous for him. He doesn't believe in exercise he says because it saps energy! DUH! He'd be in a golf outfit, shoes and all, waving a club! Now that's a photo op I'd enjoy seeing. :)
O-uknow 