Barking up the wrong tree: Difference between revisions

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	{{Wiktionary\|Bark up the wrong tree}}		{{Wiktionary\|Bark up the wrong tree}}
	'''Barking up the wrong tree''' is an ] idiomatic expression which is used to suggest a mistaken emphasis in a specific context.		'''Barking up the wrong tree''' is an ] idiomatic expression which is used to suggest a mistaken emphasis in a specific context.

			In other words, "if you are barking up the wrong tree, it means that you have completely misunderstood something or are totally wrong."<ref></ref>

	==Historical usage==		==Historical usage==

Revision as of 08:28, 17 November 2009

Barking up the wrong tree is an American idiomatic expression which is used to suggest a mistaken emphasis in a specific context.

In other words, "if you are barking up the wrong tree, it means that you have completely misunderstood something or are totally wrong."

1833 – "It doesn't take a Philadelphia lawyer to tell that the man who serves the master one day, and the enemy six, has just six chances out of seven to go to the devil. You are barking up the wrong tree, Johnson." -- James Hall, Legends of the West, p. 46.
1833 – "I told him that he reminded me of the meanest thing on God's earth, an old coon dog barking up the wrong tree." -- Sketches of David Crockett," p. 58. (New York).
1834 – " to use a Western phrase, barked up the wrong tree when they go hold of Tom Smith." -- Albert Pike, Sketches &c. p. 34 (Boston)
1836 – "You've been barking up the wrong tree, cried the Ohioan." -- Knickerbocker Magazine, p. vii. 15 January 1936.
1838 – "Instead of having treed their game, gentlemen will find themselves still barking up the wrong tree." -- Mr. Duncan of Ohio in the House of Representatives, July 7: Congressional Globe, p. 474, Appendix.
1839 – "The same reckless indifferenece which causes a puppy to bark up the wrong tree. -- Chemung (NY) Democrat, September 18. 1839.

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^ Thornton, Richard H. and Louise Hanley. (1912). An American glossary, p. 43.

Boye DeMente, Lafayette. (2007). Cheater's Guide to Speaking English Like a Native, Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing. 13-ISBN 978-0-804-83682-1/10-ISBN 0-804-83682-5; OCLC 148660284
___________. (1886). Barking up the wrong Tree; a Darkey Sketch in One Act and One Scene. New York: Dick & Fitzgerald. OCLC 20640219
Thornton, Richard H. and Louise Hanley. (1912). An American glossary. New York: J.B. Lippincott. OCLC 318970