bird dog minute.Immediately. At least as fast as a New York Minute.
William Safire did the front end of one of his language columns on this phrase that, apparently, only Hillary and Bill Clinton have used publicly. Safire quotes Clinton doing an as-they-say-in-Arkansas attribution. Since Safire could not corroborate it, the inference I draw from his column is that it may or may not be something said by someone other than Hillary, but who knows for sure? The best he can do for us is the unattributed “alliterative Southern expression…busy as a bird dog.”
If it was worth some inches for Safire, I figure it's worth an entry here. |
1. Safire, William. 2008. Bird-Dog Minute. New York Times Magazine. Accessed May 21 2008 from http:// www.nytimes.com/ 2008/ 02/ 24/ magazine/ 24wwlnSafire-t.html.
2. Ibid. |