Are we being too unkind to our furry four-legged friends, when we seem to have a very low threshold indeed for literally berating their good name in unfavourable circumstances? News that Jeff Fenech is unwell hardly deserves a canine reference, unless of course he is to receive cardiac dog valves to cure his malady. (“I’m sick as a dog,” DT, 14/3). Similarly, monkeys arose in a recent racism row in the NRL. Our language is too prone by far to blame animals for the ill circumstances of mankind. While not wanting to put a hex on Fenech’s recovery and “put the cat among the pigeons”, in the “dog eat dog” world of verbal conflict, I guess we need to “take the bull by the horns”‘, stop “flogging a dead horse” or believing that “pigs might fly” and just accept that most people are “all bark and no bite”. Alan Sexton, North Parramatta 15Mar2024
