In the Doghouse

Yeterday, Gary used the expression, “in the doghouse.”

I laughed because the expression is so 1950s, so easily literalizable in cartoons and sitcoms (descending scale: wah wah wah).

I remember the first time I learned the expression, in third or fourth grade. I don’t remember any of the normal lessons from the bitchy teachers I had during those years, with the exception of one time we burnt sugar until it carmelized — oh and another tine being forced to make that capital cursive Q that looks like a deformed “2”. I also remember getting IQ tests (but not the results). What I definitely remember are the visists from guests artists. One guy taught us some songs from Man of La Mancha, which you KNOW I loved.

I learned “in the doghouse” from a man who came to teach us Japanese ink painting. He explained the expression, then said that if we made any stray marks on our paper we would be “in the doghouse.”

In the doghouse.