The Lakes 2.06

[hmpf]

White dog shit! Bwahahah!

ETA: So... is that a clause in all of John Simm's contracts or what? "Script needs to include reference to white dog shit?"

Granted, I've only seen The Lakes and Life on Mars so far. *g*

Or is it a general British symbol for the past? Why haven't I encountered it before?

Comments

[mjlaw.livejournal.com]

It actually is a kind of British reference for the past.
A lot of people who were children in Britain in the 70s/80s will remember white dog shit as a thing you saw on the street that you just don't see anymore (partly because there is less dog shit on the street,and partly because we notice a lot less in our environments now we're all adult)

Witness:
http://www.asylumnation.com/asylum/_r/showthread/threadid_29178
http://hypercane.vox.com/library/post/where-did-all-the-white-dog-shit-go.html (actually that one's from the USA)
http://www.yesbutnobutyes.com/archives/2007/01/fortean_friday_2.html

etc

I remember white dog shit myself, actually.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

I've just never encountered it as... well, what would you call it, it's not quite a saying as such - a kind of cliché, maybe? Let's say it seems to have a higher symbolic value in Britain than it has in Germany, for whatever reason. (Which is funny, because linguistically, Germany is often described as somewhat obsessed with the scatological.)

ETA: From what I've gathered on the topic, the reason for the change in colour is mostly the dogs' diet - apparently dogs were fed a diet much higher in calcium up till maybe the early eighties or so. Bones etc. Apparently that caused the white coating on the shit.