Buzz
Even if you’ve never been challenged with a double or triple dog dare, you can grasp its significance for any 20th-century schoolchild. Just watch the 1983 classic A Christmas Story once, and you’ll get the picture.
Set likely in 1939, the movie shows Ralphie’s dismay as his friend Flick bravely stands up to a double dare, then a double dog dare, before succumbing to the ultimate triple dog dare. (The challenge? Licking a frozen flagpole, which ends predictably badly for his tongue.)
“The precise wording and subtlety of this ritual are crucial,” an older Ralphie explains in his narration.
The addition of double to dare in this timeless schoolyard tradition is easy to understand. It amplifies the tension and peer pressure without changing the actual stakes. But why involve dogs in the mix?
The truth is, no one knows for sure. What’s clear is that children have been double dog daring each other since at least the late 1800s. On his blog The Big Apple, Barry Popik discovered several mentions of double dog dare from the 1890s. One example is from the 1896 book The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought, where Alexander Francis Chamberlain describes a “scale of challenging” used by kids in Kentucky:
“I dare you; I dog dare you; I double dog dare you. I dare you; I black dog dare you; I double black dog dare you.”
The word dog does have meanings that align somewhat with the phrase’s tone. It can imply persistence or relentless pursuit, and you might feel cornered if a classmate bombards you with escalating dares after you decline a simple one. Historically, dog has also been used as a substitute for oaths like God or damn. Whether 19th-century children considered the linguistic roots of dog when coining the phrase is unclear. As Michael Quinion suggested on his World Wide Words blog, it might have simply sounded appealing.
“Why dogs were included is uncertain, but dog is a robust word with plenty of negative connotations, and its alliteration likely made it particularly catchy,” he noted.
