| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name
 | Date | Lines | 
|---|
| 531.1 | Get the little RED book. | SKIVT::ROGERS | Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate | Thu Jun 09 1988 20:30 | 4 | 
|  | Don't remember the exact phrasing, but it came from the quotaions of Chairman 
Mao.  I'll see if I've still got my copy.
Le Chinois�
 | 
| 531.2 | how sad | PSTJTT::TABER | Touch-sensitive software engineering | Thu Jun 09 1988 21:54 | 4 | 
|  | >    I'm playing a Marxist English professor in a mystery and would like to
>    know. 
    
Detection is the opiate of the Marxists, huh?
 | 
| 531.3 | not latchkey | DOODAH::RANDALL | Bonnie Randall Schutzman | Thu Jun 09 1988 22:29 | 3 | 
|  |     Isn't it "running dog lackey"?
    
    --bonnie
 | 
| 531.4 | you have to get these things straight (no chaser) | MARKER::KALLIS | Don't confuse `want' and `need.' | Thu Jun 09 1988 23:00 | 15 | 
|  |     Re .2 (PStJTT):
    
>Detection is the opiate of the Marxists, huh?
    More like "quotation."
                                      
    Re .3 (Bonnie):
    
    No, the running dogs of Capitalism are so into money that all their
    parents had jobs, and they grew up as latchkey children.  Thus,
    latchkey adults, or Latchkeys.
    
    Simple, really.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.   
 | 
| 531.5 |  | ERIS::CALLAS | Waiter, there's a bug in my code | Thu Jun 09 1988 23:32 | 5 | 
|  |     re .2:
    
    	"Detection is the opiate of the Marxists, huh?"
    
    Perhaps. Maybe the Marxist will get to detect some opiates.
 | 
| 531.6 |  | ERIS::CALLAS | Waiter, there's a bug in my code | Thu Jun 09 1988 23:40 | 3 | 
|  |     re .3:
    
    Thank you, Bonnie, it *is* running dog lackey.
 | 
| 531.7 | Mao | MARVIN::KNOWLES | Danger was this man's speciality | Fri Jun 10 1988 17:36 | 12 | 
|  |     I'm sure .1 is right. The expression `running dog' translates a
    phrase or word Mao used, so that's how it found it's way into
    English - especially the English of Maoist professors.
    
    There is a possibility that the word/phrase in Mao's Chinese
    existed before he used it; or maybe that language makes it
    possible to stuff a word and an epithet into one word -
    so maybe `running dog' and `paper tiger' aren't as odd
    as they sound (to my ear, anyway). We need someone who
    speaks Chinese.
    
    b
 | 
| 531.8 |  | MYCRFT::PARODI | John H. Parodi | Fri Jun 10 1988 18:49 | 7 | 
|  | 
  Every time I've seen the phrase 'running dog lackey,' it was followed
  by 'of imperialist capitalist swine.'
  Hope this helps,
  JP
 | 
| 531.9 | lacking the key | DOODAH::RANDALL | Bonnie Randall Schutzman | Fri Jun 10 1988 20:28 | 11 | 
|  |     According to Webster's Ninth Collegiate, "running dog" showed up
    in 1927, no origin origin specified.
    Meaning:  "one who does someone else's bidding: lackey."
    
    So a running dog lackey is somewhat redundant.  
    
    On the other hand, a Marxist professor throwing around language
    like this is also somewhat redundant, so perhaps it fits.
    
    --bonnie
 | 
| 531.10 | you want power lackyhood ... | ERASER::KALLIS | Don't confuse `want' and `need.' | Fri Jun 10 1988 20:50 | 9 | 
|  |     Re .9 (Bonnie):
    
    >So a running dog lackey is somewhat redundant.  
    
    No, it means someone who will do theb bidding of a running dog.
    
    Sort of a toady's toady.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
 | 
| 531.11 | I think I see now | DOODAH::RANDALL | Bonnie Randall Schutzman | Fri Jun 10 1988 21:01 | 7 | 
|  |     re: .10
    
    I can't say what enlightenment came over me when I read your
    description, because I would certainly offend members of the
    management group that came to mind . . .
    
    --bonnie
 | 
| 531.12 | dog pack | DANUBE::B_REINKE | where the sidewalk ends | Fri Jun 10 1988 21:36 | 6 | 
|  |     in re .10 Bonnie (giggle)
    
    also the mental image I had of running dog(s) was of a pack
    of hounds that would fawn and slaver all over their master.
    
    Bonnie
 | 
| 531.13 | I'm no etymologist | ABSZK::SZETO | Simon Szeto, Asian Base Systems @ZKO | Tue Jul 26 1988 00:49 | 19 | 
|  |     "Running dog" is a literal translation from the Chinese expression.
    (The expression consists of two characters: first one meaning "run"
    or "running" since it's an adjective in this case, and the second
    meaning "dog.")  I'm not sure of the derivation of the expression.
    My impression is that it is more typical of Northern Chinese dialect 
    than Southern, although by this time the origin hardly matters. 
    
    Offhand I can't tell you (without doing some research in Yenching
    Library, for example) how old the expression "running dog" really
    is.  I suspect that it has been in the vernacular for quite some
    time.
    When I was in elementary school the Korean War was on.  The epithet
    "Yankee Imperialist running dog" was synonymous with "American,"
    (usually in reference to soldiers) in the leftist Chinese papers,
    and even comic books.
  --Simon
    
 |