CLASSIC: How did Fido become the default name for dogs?

Ridiculous History

iHeartPodcasts

History, Society & Culture

4.3 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you're like most English speakers, the first thing you think of when you hear the name "Fido" is, of course, a dog. But why? Join Ben and Noel as they delve into the story of Abraham Lincoln's favorite pooch, and how this little yellow pup became one of the first dog memes. (Also, please send us photos of your pooches. We're super into it.)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Oh, fellow ridiculous historians, is that you?
0:03.0	We're so glad to see you.
0:05.0	Good boy.
0:05.7	Yeah, joining us for a classic episode.
0:11.0	Look, names are tough.
0:13.3	We talked, I can't remember what show it was, but we talked about how tough it is to name a car.
0:18.9	We know it's tough to name a pet.
0:21.3	The Tor egg.
0:21.9	What even is that?
0:22.6	What is the Tor egg?
0:24.2	He's still on it.
0:26.5	So, look, if you are investigating like we did back in 2018, the names of dogs, you will see the name Fido show up. And Fido's not a name for people.
0:40.9	Sure isn't. You see it in branding for dog food and all kinds of stuff dating back to,
0:45.7	this is the beginning of advertising. I've been watching or rewatching actually a lot of classic
0:50.6	Looney Tunes cartoons recently. Pro tip for any max subscribers out there, every single one of
0:57.6	them is on there, back from the earliest ones in like the 30s. And Fido is often what they call
1:03.8	dogs in the show. You know, Bugs Bunny. Let's be like, here Fido, it's just kind of like a stand-in.
1:08.8	Like Coke is for soda or X-Rox is for a photocopy.
1:13.2	Sure, Google for internet search. Do we also have the, do we have the World War II propaganda on Max?
1:22.6	I'm not sure. I haven't been through all of it enough to know of what they've stripped, but I'm not 100% sure.
1:28.2	I wouldn't be surprised.
1:29.2	I know that Disney has removed a lot of the problematic Disney cartoons from, you know, Disney Plus.
	...

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