In a speech this week to his supporters, a group of labor union members, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (a source of his votes), U.S. President Obama accused his political opponents of talking about him “like a dog”. I’m not all interested in American politicians’ dog-eat-dog scenarios. But, I’m particularly fascinated by his use of the word dog in a disapproving way. He might mean his critics talked to him as if he was a dog, or they talk to him as dogs do. But what he means depends on how they talk to dogs or he feels about talking dogs.