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 rejoinder to any similarly glib or otherwise insufficient or implausible explanation for a failure in any context.

The claim of a dog eating one’s homework is inherently suspect since it is both nearly impossible for a teacher to disprove and conveniently absolves the student who gives that excuse of any blame. However, although suspicious, the claim is not absolutely beyond possibility since dogs are known to eat—or chew on—bunches of paper; [[John Steinbeck]] was once forced to ask his editor for additional time due to half the manuscript of ”[[Of Mice and Men]]” having been eaten by his [[Irish Setter]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/05/27/john-steinbeck-dog-letter-manuscript/ |title=Computer Crashes Before Computers: When John Steinbeck’s Dog Ate His Manuscript |date=27 May 2016 |access-date=2020-01-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104230847/https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/05/27/john-steinbeck-dog-letter-manuscript/ |archive-date=2019-11-04 |url-status=live }}</ref>

As an explanation for missing documents, it dates to a story about a Welsh minister first recorded in print in 1905. The ”[[Oxford English Dictionary]]” suggests that a 1929 reference establishes that schoolchildren had at some time earlier than that offered it as an excuse to teachers. It was so recorded, more than once, in the 1965 bestselling novel ”[[Up the Down Staircase]]”, and began to assume its present sense as the ”[[sine qua non]]” of dubious excuses, particularly in American culture, both in school and out, in the 1970s. American presidents from [[Ronald Reagan]] to [[Barack Obama]] have used it to criticize political opponents, and it has been a source of humor for various comic strips and television shows, such as ”[[The Simpsons]]”.