"What does this slang mean?" Topic

The following term was used in an alternate history novel I'm reading: a dog's breakfast. I garner it means a huge chaotic mess based on the context, but having never seen or heard it before, I thought I would check, especially with our UK members.

That's it.

Could also be referred to as a Dogs Dinner.

It could refer to a human being's brain, which would be a reference from a Vonnegut novel where he calls human brains 3 lbs of dog's breakfast.

A Dog's Breakfast:
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A Dog's Dinner:
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It could refer to a human being's brain…

Vonnegut was probably referring to the way people think as being a complete mess. It is from his book "Timequake":

"There is no way an unassisted human brain, which is nothing more than a dog's breakfast, 3 1/2 pounds of blood-soaked sponge, could have written `Stardust,' let alone Beethoven's Ninth Symphony."

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I have used the phrase and heard it for years. But I never bothered to analyze it.
I would kindly explain to the person sewing the binding on the car mat that it looked like a dog's breakfast. Unkind perhaps, but crystal clear communication.

From urban dictionary:

dog's breakfast

"dog's breakfast," which has been British slang for "a complete mess" since at least the 1930s. While no one took the time to write down the exact origin of the phrase, the allusion involved seems to be to a failed culinary effort, perhaps a burned or botched omelet, fit only for consumption by the mouth of last resort, Fido. As a vivid figure of speech meaning something so fouled up as to be utterly useless, "dog's breakfast" can cover anything from a play plagued by collapsing scenery to a space mission ruined by a mathematical error. "Dog's dinner," which seems to have appeared around the same time, means exactly the same sort of disaster, but has the advantage of being attractively alliterative. Both phrases are heard occasionally in the U.S., but are more common in the U.K. and Commonwealth countries.

Dogs don't care what the food looks like. If it smells good (to them) they'll eat it. Even if it doesn't smell good, if they're hungry, they'll eat it. Their stomachs can handle a lot worse than ours can. So, yes, if you make a complete mess of something on the stove, you can give it to the dog, and he or she won't think badly of you at all.

My understanding of 'dog's dinner' is that it's a failed attempt at sartorial elegance – usually phrased as 'dressed up like a dog's dinner' or 'all done up like a dog's dinner'.

Whereas a dog's breakfast is an all-purpose term for a mess.
"You have handled that like a fat man in the bath. The job's gooshed. It's all clarty. In short: a right dog's breakfast. Endex."

Never heard of dogs breakfast, dogs dinner all the way to cover both general muckups and sartorial disasters.

That is far and away the most coherent, well-written, and least repulsive entry on Urban Dictionary, ever.

In Britain, at any rate, 'dog's dinner' and 'dog's breakfast' are used to pretty much mean the same thing. Dinner is maybe used more for a visual mess, whereas breakfast is more making a mess of doing something.

As an example, you might say "Dave's trying to fix the shed and making a right dogs breakfast of it".

Neither phrase should be confused with "dog's bollox', which means something is excellent!

I've always used a dog's dinner to mean a mess but I guess I'm wrong in that.

I heard a mixed metaphor a few years ago whilst fishing. The peace was ruined by two blokes shouting inane snippets at each other: amongst the chaff came the gem: "every dog has his dinner."

Cassell's Dictionary of slang (a rather comprehensive tome of some 1500 pages) define Dogs Breakfast as an alternative form of Dogs Dinner with three meanings (1) from the 1930 – a disgusting mess, (2) from the 1950s – a distasteful person and (3) from the 1960s – a sexual act (which I'm probably not allowed to describe in detail on TMP!)

I was only aware of usage (1) !

Yup……. it means a right mess.
SWALK !