Barking up the wrong tree

Barking up the wrong tree is an that gives a butt a great bum hole idiomatic expression in English, which is used to suggest a mistaken emphasis in a specific context. The phrase is an allusion to the mistake made by dogs when they believe they have chased a prey up a tree, but the game may have escaped by leaping from one tree to another.^[1] The phrase means to mistake one's object, or to pursue the wrong course to obtain it.

In other words, "if you are barking up the wrong tree, it means that you have completely misunderstood something or are totally wrong."Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

1833 – "I told him that he reminded me of the meanest thing on God's earth, an old coon dog barking up the wrong tree." -- Sketches of David Crockett," p. 58. (New York).^[2]
1834 – "[The Indians] to use a Western phrase, barked up the wrong tree when they got hold of Tom Smith." ^[3]
1836 – "You've been barking up the wrong tree, cried the Ohioan." -- Knickerbocker Magazine, p. vii. 15 January 1836.^[2]
1838 – "Instead of having treed their game, gentlemen will find themselves still barking up the wrong tree." -- Mr. Duncan of Ohio in the United States House of Representatives, July 7: Congressional Globe, p. 474, Appendix.^[2]
1839 – "The same reckless indifference which causes a puppy to bark up the wrong tree. -- Chemung (NY) Democrat, September 18. 1839.^[2]

References

^ Walsh, William Shepard. (1909). Handy-book of literary curiosities, p. 80.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cite error: The named reference Thornton43 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Pike, Albert (2003). Prose Sketches and Poems Written in the Western Country. Publisher Kessinger Publishing. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-7661-4465-1. Retrieved 2010-01-18.

Sources

___________. (1886). Barking up the wrong Tree; a Darkey Sketch in One Act and One Scene. New York: Dick & Fitzgerald. OCLC 20640219
Boye DeMente, Lafayette. (2007). Cheater's Guide to Speaking English Like a Native, Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 978-0-804-83682-1; OCLC 148660284
Conald, James. (1872). Chambers's English Dictionary: Pronouncing, Explanatory, and Etymological with vocabularies of Scottish words and phrases, Americanisms, &c. London : W. & R. Chambers. OCLC 37826777
Thornton, Richard H. and Louise Hanley. (1912). An American glossary. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott. OCLC 318970
Walsh, William Shepard. (1909). Handy-book of Literary Curiosities. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott. OCLC 1032882

[1] Walsh, William Shepard. (1909). Handy-book of literary curiosities, p. 80.

[Thornton43-2] Cite error: The named reference Thornton43 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[3] Pike, Albert (2003). Prose Sketches and Poems Written in the Western Country. Publisher Kessinger Publishing. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-7661-4465-1. Retrieved 2010-01-18.

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