dogsbody

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This is an article about a military rank. For the novel by Diana Wynne Jones, see Dogsbody (novel).

Look up dogsbody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A dogsbody, or less commonly dog robber in the Royal Navy, is a junior officer, or more generally someone who does drudge work. A rough American equivalent would be a "gofer", "scutpuppy", or "grunt".

History

The Royal Navy used dried peas and eggs boiled in a bag (pease pudding) as one of their staple foods circa the early 1800s. Sailors nicknamed this vile substance "dog's body". In the early 20th century, junior officers and midshipmen who performed jobs more senior officers did not want to do began to be called "dogsbodys".^{[citation needed]} The term became more common in non-naval usage ca. 1930, coming to refer to people who were stuck with rough work.^{[citation needed]}

Usage

Baldrick, the character in Blackadder, is called a dogsbody.

The term dogsbody has not always been derogatory, with a number of people deliberately using it as their callsign or handle. The most famous of these is probably Douglas Bader, who was an RAF fighter pilot during the Second World War. ^[1]

References

1. ^ Reach for the Sky, Paul Brickhill

External links

• Dogsbody definition

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