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The Dog Ate My Homework
Two teams fight it out to dodge detention, and put the cool back into school, in a mischievous mix of tongue-in-cheek comedy, off-the-wall questions, nonsensical studio games and slapstick challenges.
Official site: www.bbc.co.uk
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Previous Episode
Harvey v maya, episode 8x12; mar 21, 2021.
Lauren Layfield is joined by team captains Harvey and Maya and special guests Gemma Cairney, Rosco McClelland, Ben Shires and Naomi Wilkinson.
Previous Episodes
Iain Stirling
Lauren Layfield
The Dog Ate My Homework
- TV panel show
- 2014 - 2021
- 97 episodes (8 series)
School-themed panel show for CBBC . Stars Lauren Layfield , Iain Stirling , Ian West , Reis Daniel , Chris Lawrence and more .
Key details
- BBC Studios
The Dog Ate My Homework is the school-based panel show that lets you down, lets CBBC down, and above all, lets itself down... It's the series that throws out the text books along with the rule book, and turns everything about school on its head.
BAFTA-nominated comedian and CBBC favourite Iain Stirling hosted the first six series, but now the show is hosted by Lauren Layfield .
On every show there are two teams, featuring comedians, celebrity guests and a junior sidekick. Both teams are faced with a mischievous mix of tongue-in-cheek comedy, off-the-wall questions, nonsensical studio games, and slapstick challenges.
The Dog Ate My Homework is the show that finally puts the cool back into school.
Additional details
Website links, broadcast details.
- Wednesday 22nd December 2021 at 7:20pm on CBBC - Christmas Special
- Thursday 16th December 2021 at 8:00pm on CBBC - Christmas Special
- Sunday 12th December 2021 at 10:00am on CBBC - Christmas Special
View all 605 repeats
Recording details
- BBC Pacific Quay
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Where Did The Phrase âThe Dog Ate My Homeworkâ Come From?
Dogs are known as man’s best friend. Dogs keep us safe, are hard workers … and can provide a handy excuse in a pinch. Maybe that’s why versions of the classic expression the dog ate my homework have been around for hundreds of years.
Today, the dog ate my homework is used as a stock example of the kind of silly excuses schoolchildren give for why their work isn’t finished. Very rarely do people say, “the dog ate my homework” and expect it to be taken literally; they use the expression as an example of a typically flimsy excuse.
So where did the phrase come from?
Forrest Wickman, a writer for Slate , describes the legend of the 6th-century Saint CiarĂĄn of Clonmacnoise as the alleged first recorded “the dog ate my homework” story. According to the tale, Saint CiarĂĄn had a tame young fox that would take his writings to his master for him. One day, the fox grew up and decided to eat the leather strap binding the writings together instead. Still, this tale is more Garden-of-Eden parable and less terrible schoolchild excuse.
The notion that dogs will eat just about anything, including paper, turns up in lots of stories over the centuries. An example comes from The Humors of Whist , published in 1808 in Sporting Magazine . In the story, the players are sitting around playing cards when one of them remarks that their companion would have lost the game had the dog not eaten the losing card. Good boy.
Some attribute the creation of the dog ate my homework to a joke that was going around at the beginning of the 20th century. In a tale found as far back as an 1894 memoir by Anglican priest Samuel Reynolds Hole, a preacher gives a shortened version of a sermon because a dog got into his study and ate some of the pages he had written. However, the clerk loved it because they had been wanting the preacher to shorten his sermons for years.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the first example of the dog ate my homework excuse in print can be found in a speech given by retiring headmaster James Bewsher in 1929 and published in the Manchester Guardian : “It is a long time since I have had the excuse about the dog tearing up the arithmetic homework.” The way this comment is phrased suggests that the whole dog ate my homework story had been around for some time before it was put in print.
When was the word homework created?
But in order for a dog to eat homework specifically, homework had to be invented (oh, and how we wish it hadn’t been). True, the word homework , as in what we call today housework , appears as early as 1653. But homework , as in school exercises to be done at home, isn’t found until 1852. Once we had homework , it was only a matter of time before the dog was accused of eating it.
How we use this phrase now
No matter the origin, sometime in the 1950s, the expression became set as the dog ate my homework . This inspired any number of riffs on the theme, like my cow ate my homework or my brother ate my homework . In the 1960s, the dog ate my homework continued to gain popularity. The expression popped up a couple times in politics over the years, like when President Reagan said to reporters in 1988, “I had hoped that we had marked the end of the ‘dog-ate-my-homework’ era of Congressional budgetry ⌠but it was not to be.”
It seems unlikely that the dog ate my homework was ever used consistently or frequently by actual schoolchildren. In fact, it’s the unlikeliness of the story that makes it so funny and absurd as a joke. Instead, teachers and authority figures appear to have cited the dog ate my homework many times over the years as such a bad excuse they can’t believe students are really using it.
In the 21st century, students don’t spend as much time working with physical pen and paper as they once did. That may contribute to the decline in the use of the phrase. So, maybe soon we’ll see a new equally absurd phrase pop up. Come on Zoomers, you’ve got this.
WATCH: What's A Unique Homework Routine That Works?
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Why Do We Say âThe Dog Ate My Homeworkâ?
The history of the delinquent schoolchildâs favorite excuse..
Did this sad Lab eat your homework?
iStockphoto.
Viacom announced on Monday that Mitt Romney had declined to appear on Nickelodeonâs Kids Pick the President special this year, citing time constraints. President Obamaâs camp pounced on Romneyâs decision, saying, âKids demand details ⌠âThe dog ate my homeworkâ just doesnât cut it when youâre running for president. â When did âmy dog ate my homeworkâ become known as schoolchildrenâs favorite excuse?
The 1970s. Delinquent schoolchildren and adults have been blaming their shortcomings on their pets for more than a century, but it wasnât until the 1970s that âmy dog ate my homeworkâ came to be considered the No. 1 likely story. One of the first sad sacks who was said to blame his dog for his own ill-preparedness was a priest. In this anecdote, which appeared as early as 1905, a clergyman pulls his clerk aside after a service to ask him whether his sermon seemed long enough. The clerk assures him that it was very nice, âjust the right length,â and the priest is relieved. âI am very glad to hear you say that,â he says, âbecause just before I started to come here my dog got hold of my sermon and ate some of the leaves .â The story was repeated again and again . The first citation of the excuse in the Oxford English Dictionary is a 1929 article from the Manchester Guardian , which reads, âIt is a long time since I have had the excuse about the dog tearing up the arithmetic homework.â In Bel Kaufmanâs best-selling 1965 novel Up the Down Staircase , a list of studentsâ excuses for not having their homework includes â My dog went on my homework â and â My dog chewed it up .â Even in 1965, however, it was still just another excuse.
âMy dog ate my homeworkâ became known as the quintessential far-fetched excuse in the next decade, when the phrase was used over and over . In a 1976 account of the Watergate tapes, E.C. Kennedy describes listening to President Nixon â working on the greatest American excuse since the dog ate my homework .â A 1977 article from Alaskaâs Daily News-Miner describes the difficulty students faced in coming up with a new excuse since â âMy dog ate my term paperâ is no longer acceptable .â
The excuse was alluded to more and more throughout the 1980s. A 1982 Time magazine column on excuses suggested that âThe dog ate my homework is a favorite with schoolchildren,â while a 1987 New York Times column about how students were starting to blame malfunctioning computers and printers quoted one teacher as saying she recently received â a note from a studentâs mother saying the dog ate his homework .â Even the president picked up on the trend: When Congress pushed spending approval to the last minute in 1988, Ronald Reagan complained to reporters, â I had hoped that we had marked the end of the âdog-ate-my-homeworkâ era of Congressional budgetry ⌠but it was not to be .â It was all over television, with references to the excuse on shows like The Simpsons and Full House . By 1989, the narrator of Saved by the Bell theme was singing, â And the dog ate all my homework last night .â
The phrase continued to grow more popular. Between 1990 and 2000, the New York Times wrote articles with headlines such as â Beyond âDog Ate My Homeworkâ â and â Homework Help Sites (Or, the Dog Ate My U.R.L.) ,â while The New Yorker described one criminalâs accounts of his wrongdoings as having âa decided my-dog-ate-my-homework quality.â Childrenâs books tried to capitalize on the trend with titles like A Dinosaur Ate My Homework , Aliens Ate My Homework , Godzilla Ate My Homework , and My Teacher Ate My Homework , daring to use the term to promote reading and education. Such titles have continued into the 2000s, but in recent years the phrase seems to finally be losing steam .
Bonus Explainer: An Obama spokesperson also said, â Itâs no surprise Romney decided to play hookey .â Why do we call cutting school âplaying hookeyâ? To play hookey began as an Americanism in the 19 th century. The earliest known citation comes from 1848, from John Russell Bartlettâs Dictionary of Americanisms , where it was said to mean âto play truantâ and noted to be â a term used among schoolboys, chiefly in the State of New York .â Word historians usually suggest that itâs from to hook it meaning to run away , a term as old as the Revolutionary War. However, others have proposed that it might derive from the Dutch expression hoekje spelen , the Dutch expression for âhide and seekââespecially since playing hooky emerged in New York during a time when it had a larger Dutch population.
Got a question about todayâs news? Ask the Explainer .
Explainer thanks Barry Popik, Jesse Sheidlower of the Oxford English Dictionary, and Ben Zimmer of the Visual Thesaurus and Vocabulary.com .
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From Our Listeners
Sometimes the dog really does eat your homework.
Last week, we brought you the story of how the phrase "The Dog Ate My Homework" came to be and how it morphed into a palpably ridiculous excuse. Turns out, sometimes its not an excuse at all. Weekend Edition host Scott Simon has a few stories from our listeners that swear, honest, the dog did eat their homework.
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iPhone alarm clock issue is the new ‘dog ate my homework’
Apple is reportedly aware of an issue with the iPhone’s alarm clock after some users complained the rudimentary feature has stopped playing sounds.
Emilie Ikeda for NBC’s Today show in the United States reports that a large number of people have taken to social media to complain alarms they’ve had set for years are not functioning as expected. That has caused people to miss wake-up calls for work, class, appointments, and dropping the kids at school.
According to the reporter, Apple is aware of an issue causing some iPhone alarms to not play the expected sounds. It also says the company is working on a fix for the issue.
A rude awakening for some iPhone users đ¨â°â˛ď¸ Apple says itâs working to fix an issue causing some alarms NOT to play a sound. Hereâs what we know â> https://t.co/cNYMgudgXC — Emilie Ikeda (@EmilieIkedaNBC) April 30, 2024
It’s currently not clear what is causing the largely simple piece of functionality to break and Apple didn’t go into any more detail with its statement to the Today show. It’s also not clear how widespread the problem is either.
Some users on TikTok are suggesting it might be the Attention Aware feature, which will turn down the sound on a notification when the device notices you’re looking at the screen. That toggle can be turned on/off under Settings > Face ID and Attention.
Some users have also been told by Apple to check the Settings > Sound & Haptics menu to ensure the volume is turned up on ringtones and alerts and to toggle the “Change With Buttons” switch to off to avoid turning the alarm volume down by accident.
However, the fact Apple is reportedlty working on a fix suggests these mitigations won’t be enough to fully solve the issues for the majority of those affected. We’ll keep you posted when Apple drops the planned update.
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Chris Smith is a freelance technology journalist for a host of UK tech publications, including Trusted Reviews. He's based in South Florida, USA. …
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The dog ate my homework. " The dog ate my homework " (or " My dog ate my homework ") is an English expression which carries the suggestion of being a common, poorly fabricated excuse made by schoolchildren to explain their failure to turn in an assignment on time. The phrase is referenced, even beyond the educational context, as a sarcastic ...
The Dog Ate My Homework: With Iain Stirling, Susan Calman, Ian West, Dominique Moore.
WATCH FULL EPISODES đ http://bbc.in/2Yl2rlmSUBSCRIBE TO CBBC đ https://bbc.in/3gH3ioUSeries 8: Episode 5 - Evie v AlfieLauren Layfield hosts as two teams f...
The Dog Ate My Homework Two teams face a mischievous mix of tongue-in-cheek comedy, off-the-wall questions and slapstick challenges in this school-based panel show. Add to My Shows Added to My ...
CBBC - The Dog Ate My Homework, Series 8 - Episode guide. Catch up with all the hilarious episodes of the school-based comedy panel show, where two teams of celebrities and comedians face off in a ...
The Dog Ate My Homework Series 6 Episodes Episode guide. All; Available now (0) Next on (0) Back up to: The Dog Ate My Homework. Episode 12. 12 / 12 Iain is joined by special ...
The Dog Ate My Homework. TV panel show. CBBC. 2014 - 2021. 97 episodes (8 series) School-themed panel show for CBBC. Stars Lauren Layfield, Iain Stirling, Ian West, Reis Daniel, Chris Lawrence and more. Like this. Overview.
Show Guide for The Dog Ate My Homework. Includes an episode list, cast and character list, character guides, gallery, and more.
On every show there are two teams, featuring comedians, celebrity guests and a junior sidekick. Both teams are faced with a mischievous mix of tongue-in-cheek comedy, off-the-wall questions, nonsensical studio games, and slapstick challenges. The Dog Ate My Homework is the show that finally puts the cool back into school.
The Dog Ate My Homework - Christmas Special CBBC's flagship comedy panel show The Dog Ate My Homework is back with a very special Christmassy Christmas special. Iain Stirling is joined by team captains Oscar and Sade as well as special guests Hacker T Dog, Ashleigh and Pudsey, The One Show's Alex Riley and comedian Pippa Evans to battle it out ...
"The dog ate my homework" is an English expression which carries the suggestion of being a common, poorly fabricated excuse made by schoolchildren to explain their failure to turn in an assignment on time. The phrase is referenced, even beyond the educational context, as a sarcastic rejoinder to any similarly glib or otherwise insufficient or implausible explanation for a failure in any context.
The Dog Ate My Homework. 8 seasons ⢠2014 ⢠Ended. Game Show, Comedy, Children. Two teams fight it out to dodge detention, and put the cool back into school. Two teams fight it out to dodge detention, and put the cool back into school. 33 added this show. No comments +
Two teams fight it out to dodge detention, and put the cool back into school.
Back up to: The Dog Ate My Homework. Princess v Calum. 12 / 12 Suzi Ruffell presents this comedy panel show, ... 10 / 12 Hacker T Dog presents this comedy panel show, with added mischief from Adam B.
The Dog Ate My Homework. BAFTA-nominated comedian and CBBC favourite Iain Stirling hosts the series that throws out the text books along with the rule book, and turns everything about school on its head. On every show there are two teams, featuring comedians, celebrity guests and a junior sidekick. Both teams face a mischievous mix of tongue-in ...
Forrest Wickman, a writer for Slate, describes the legend of the 6th-century Saint CiarĂĄn of Clonmacnoise as the alleged first recorded "the dog ate my homework" story. According to the tale, Saint CiarĂĄn had a tame young fox that would take his writings to his master for him. One day, the fox grew up and decided to eat the leather strap ...
Between 1990 and 2000, the New York Times wrote articles with headlines such as "Beyond 'Dog Ate My Homework' " and "Homework Help Sites (Or, the Dog Ate My U.R.L.)," while The New ...
Full of It - The Dog Ate My Homework with Ryan Pinkston, Kate Mara, Teri PoloFunny movie scene
Turns out, sometimes its not an excuse at all. Weekend Edition host Scott Simon has a few stories from our listeners that swear, honest, the dog did eat their homework. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Last ...
Series 4. The Dog Ate My Homework. Two teams fight it out to dodge detention and put the cool back into school, in a mischievous mix of tongue-in-cheek comedy, off-the-wall questions, nonsensical ...
Adam Beales. Actor: The Dog Ate My Homework. Adam Beales (born 11 October 1999), known as Adam B, is a YouTuber, actor, and television host from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was a co-presenter of the CBBC show 'The Dog Ate My Homework' and as of September 2020, he became the 40th Blue Peter presenter. Beales has over 3 million subscribers on YouTube and has collaborated with Disney.
Dunglap hires Dog to eat his homework so he can truthfully use the excuse, "My Dog Ate My Homework." While looking through Winslow's telescope, CatDog become convinced that a big, black cloud is foretelling the rain to end all rains.
Emilie Ikeda for NBC's Today show in the United States reports that a large number of people have taken to social media to complain alarms they've had set for years are not functioning as ...