It’s been a while since I blogged about an idiom. For a bit of variety, I decided to blog about one today. “Barking up the wrong tree” is an idiom I’ve heard all my life. For my blog readers in other countries, please tell me if there is a comparable saying in your language or country.
This idiom is known to date back at least to the early 1800s in the United States. It can be found in at least five written sources from the 1830s. “Barking up the wrong tree” is used to describe a wrong assumption.
Raccoon hunters trained their hunting dogs to chase a raccoon. The raccoon would climb a tree to get away from the dogs, but in the dark a raccoon can trick a dog into thinking it has gone up one tree when it has climbed a different tree. The hunting dog is trained to stand at the base of the tree and bark until its owner catches up. It is then that the hunter discovers that the dog is “barking up the wrong tree.”
Less colorful synonyms for the idiom
I found the following list of synonyms for “barking up the wrong tree, but as a fiction writer I much prefer the idiom:
Miscalculate
Misjudge
Misconstrue
Misunderstand
Overestimate
Overrate
Underestimate
Confound
Each of those is a perfectly good word and should be used in serious nonfiction writing, but don’t be surprised if you find “barking up the wrong tree” in one of my historical short stories or novels.
Since my last blog post
I created an online JanetMorrisonBooks.com merchandise store on Bonfire.com! I have set prices as low as possible because I see this as a way to help get the word out about my website. It’s not a money-maker for me. If you need a tee shirt, sweatshirt, or a sweatshirt with a hoodie and don’t mind having an open book and “JanetMorrisonBooks.com – Southern Historical Fiction and Local History” tastefully written across the chest, please visit my new shop at https://www.bonfire.com/store/janet-morrison-books/.
Marie and I delivered several copies of The Aunts in the Kitchen: Southern Family Recipes to Main Street Books in Davidson, NC last week. If you’re in the Lake Norman area north of Charlotte, please support this independent bookstore or order our cookbook directly from the shop by visiting https://www.mainstreetbooksdavidson.com/item/-aQgEatI944P43K8gZe2ow. Of course, the cookbook is also available at Second Look Books in Harrisburg and on Amazon.
Some thoughts about Thanksgiving Day
In the United States, we celebrated Thanksgiving Day last Thursday. It is a day set aside for us to reflect on our many blessings and give thanks for them. It is also a day to eat too much turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, bread, and pumpkin pie. It is also a day to watch Christmas parades on television in the morning and a variety of football games in the afternoon and evening as we try to stay awake after enjoying too much.
It turns out that the holiday is based on a myth we were taught in elementary school. The story has always been that the Pilgrims and the indigenous people of Massachusetts sat down together to celebrate the fall harvest in 1621.
Apparently, a more accurate story is that the Pilgrims were celebrating the harvest by shooting off their muskets. The nearby Native American Wampanoag people heard the commotion and went to investigate. They all ended up sharing some food, but it is not as the story was passed down by white Americans for 402 years. The Pilgrims did not invite the Wampanoag people to come for a big mutual celebration.
In fact, the day is marked by indigenous Americans as a National Day of Mourning. We all know that since the first European settlers arrived in what is now the United States, the settlers disregarded the indigenous people and the government only served to legalize the mistreatment and removal of those people who had lived here for tens of thousands of years.
Perhaps a more fitting way for us to mark Thanksgiving Day is to acknowledge the wrongs of our European ancestors as we count our blessings. We cannot undo history, but we owe it to future generations to record it and pass it on as accurately as possible. When we know better, we should do better.
I’m glad we have a day as a nation when we are supposed to stop and be thankful for all we have. Corporate America tries to trick us into thinking Thanksgiving is only about the start of the Christmas gift-buying season, but they are barking up the wrong tree.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read. I have several that are all due today at the public library.
Make a point to study reliable accounts of history, if for no other reason than to avoid repeating it.
Don’t forget to visit my new merch store: https://www.bonfire.com/store/janet-morrison-books/.
With all the emphasis on Israel and Gaza now, don’t forget the people of Ukraine.
Janet
Janet's Writing Blog 