Like Hogan's goat

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Meaning

Obnoxious, faulty, badly behaved, or forever interfering. Obscure and dated Regional use: United States.

Origin

A dated American reference to the disruptive goat in R. F. Outcault's hugely popular Hogan's Alley and The Yellow Kid newspaper comics of the 1890s. By 1905 a person who was always butting in could be compared with Hogan's goat; later forms described anything failed, inferior, smelly, or dead. The allusion faded as public memory of the comic receded.

Variants

  • Hogan's goat
  • deader than Hogan's goat
  • wouldn't know it from Hogan's goat

Usage Examples

  • Quit barging into every committee meeting like Hogan's goat.
  • After a winter in the weeds, the old mower was deader than Hogan's goat.

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