草狗?

[Lu]

Translating a story, and it features a (dead) 草狗. First I thought it was a mutt, but from what I found on baidu it seems it's a real breed, resembling a Labrador. Does anyone know what a caogou is in English?

Thanks for any help!

[James Johnston]

Are you sure it's a proper breed? If you search on google images for 草狗 you get pictures of many different types of dogs. Perhaps many Chinese people are unclear about what it means.

The English term 'straw dog' comes from the Chinese apparently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_dog

Could there be some connection?

[Lu]

It's not a straw dog, it's an actual dog, best friend of a lonely widower and brutally bitten to death by another dog. Perhaps there is some connection, but not on a level relevant for the story, I think.

The pictures made me first think it's a mutt as well, but reading around on baidu revealed that it is some kind of breed, although I don't know how well-defined.

[James Johnston]

No, I wasn't suggesting it was a straw dog in the story, more that the term could loosely refer to any dog that was vaguely scruffy or yellow. As you say, some people may use it to refer to a precise breed, but certainly not everyone.

This website translates it as mongrel.

http://montpont.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post.html

I think mutt sounds like a good translation.

[leeyah]

草狗 or 草犬 seems to be the popular name for 田园犬 a Chinese breed: Chinese field dog, Chinese rural dog, or Formosa dog, very similar in appearance to Akita inu (秋田犬), but smaller in size>>草犬，严格意义上，叫“中华田园犬”，也是一个品种

Since it is a local breed and judging by the comments in online forums, it is considered common and therefore cheap, i.e."consumable". So yes, I'd say you may be right, depending on context, it may also carry the connotation of what in the west would be called a mutt.

[leeyah]

This slogan @ chinapet forum says it all:

品种再好的狗 遇到不负责的主人 命运和草狗是一样的

[xianu]

this may be completely irrelevant, but I think the grass/straw dog might be a reference to Laozi. I can't remember where, how it fit into the story, or even the exact characters, but I have a strong memory of something from the laozi - in the story, could it be partially in reference to the grass/straw dogs in Laozi?

[fengyixiao]

Standard:

这正是《稻草狗》这部影片所要说。从某种角度上说，《稻草狗》是一则悲凉的社会寓言，整部影片的情绪就象影片中大卫和艾米之间的破碎，残缺的情感，充满了阴暗和焦虑。影片的片名《Straw Dogs》来源于《老子》的“天地不仁，以万物为刍狗。”（英文翻译为“Heaven and earth are not humance,and regard the people as straw dogs.”）“刍狗”的本意，就是草做的狗。狗在古代本来是作祭祀用的牺牲，在祭祖宗、祭天地等典礼中，如现在的冷猪头、牛、羊等。后来由于社会风气的演变，不再用真的狗，而用草扎一只狗形来代替。相当于后世在拜拜的时候，用面做的猪头来代替真的猪头一样。刍狗做好以后，在还没有用来祭祀之前，大家对它都很重视，碰都不敢随便碰；等到举行祭祀以后，就把它丢到垃圾堆里去了。

[Lu]

I doubt there is a Laozi reference here, really. The story I'm translating is Bangwan guangxian xia de yibai ershi ge renwu by Zhu Wen. It's rather down-to-earth, and the caogou really is a dog, bitten to death by another dog.

[skylee]

i thought about 芻狗 too.

中華田園犬 is a great term. i like to call all those yellow dogs on the street 純種唐狗. if the japanese Akita is a breed, the yellow dogs should also deserve some respect, haha.

[skylee]

I have just had a very pleasant chat with a friend about 中華田園犬, and we agreed that it is a great name. And then she mentioned the name 士多貓, which refers to those kinds of cats you see in stores (selling groceries etc) which are presumably responsible for catching mice. Another great name.