# 灑狗血



## Dragonseed

Does anybody know the origin of the expression 灑狗血 ?

I really like this expression, and I find it gives a very vivid image for what it describes ("using somewhat objectionable or cheap means to make a situation look more dramatic", if I understand it correctly), and I am curious to know if this refers to a specific story.

My boyfriend used that expression recently about an episode of the series "Grey's anatomy"...

Thanks!


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## Ghabi

This is the first time I hear of this term. I did some googling, and it seems to be Taiwanese (?), and mean "to jazz up a performance (drama/film/song) with schmaltz/tacky/exaggerated elements". 

For what it's worth: in the old good days people would pour "black dog's blood" to a perosn whom they blieve to be possessed, in order to chase away the evil spirit. I'm not sure if this old piece of folk wisdom has anything to do with the new showbiz term.


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## echo_zkl

Ghabi said:


> This is the first time I hear of this term. I did some googling, and it seems to be Taiwanese (?), and mean "to jazz up a performance (drama/film/song) with schmaltz/tacky/exaggerated elements".



That would be 打了鸡血, I assume.


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## echo_zkl

It's scarcely used in Mandarin. But there's a similar term 狗血淋头 as in 我被骂得狗血淋头。

Close to what Ghabi mentioned, ancient Chinese people have a superstitious belief that black dog's blood could make evil power failure.


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## samanthalee

echo_zkl said:


> It's scarcely used in Mandarin. But there's a similar term 狗血淋头 as in 我被骂得狗血淋头。
> 
> Close to what Ghabi mentioned, ancient Chinese people have a superstitious belief that black dog's blood could make evil power failure.



Poor black dogs  

狗血淋头 looks similar, but is different from 洒狗血 (as I typed, I found that "洒狗血" is a set phrase in Microsoft Chinese-PRC IME. That's weird because if it's not used in China, it's usually not in the PRC IME).

洒狗血 isn't about making things dramatic; it's to make it _melo_dramatic. A usual sentence that uses 洒狗血 is "洒狗血，赚热泪"[ie. Get melodramatic, and your audience gets tearful]. 

I'd like to know the etymology of the phrase too.


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## echo_zkl

samanthalee said:


> Poor black dogs
> 洒狗血 isn't about making things dramatic; it's to make it _melo_dramatic. A usual sentence that uses 洒狗血 is "洒狗血，赚热泪"[ie. Get melodramatic, and your audience gets tearful].



That's interesting. I never heard about it. Is that some kind of Singapore Chinese?

My gut feeling tells that the etymology also relates to poor black dogs. Those superstitious performances were/are melodramatic, you know.


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## Dragonseed

I got this expression from a Taiwanese boyfriend, so it might be mostly used in Taiwan only.
Looking up on the "Yahoo" answers (Chinese version), I saw some explanation about an incident happening during a Chinese Opera performance, but this did not convince me (something related to an actor whose nick-name was "狗血" (dog blood), because he used to eat a lot of dog meat...).


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## saya818

haha,It's interesting . I never thought about "dog's blood"means so much.


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## BODYholic

Dragonseed said:


> I got this expression from a Taiwanese boyfriend, so it might be mostly used in Taiwan only.
> Looking up on the "Yahoo" answers (Chinese version), I saw some explanation about an incident happening during a Chinese Opera performance, but this did not convince me (something related to an actor whose nick-name was "狗血" (dog blood), because he used to eat a lot of dog meat...).



Yes, this is a Taiwanese term but I am afraid I have little clue how it was originated. I read this term, recently, in a blog that I followed and it goes "現在回想起來 還真像是一場相當灑狗血的八點檔連續劇開頭". The blogger concerned lost a pet but it was found later. I presumed the person meant something dramatic, unexpected or the likes.

百度has something to say,
http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/44962253.html


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## BODYholic

echo_zkl said:


> That's interesting. I never heard about it. Is that some kind of Singapore Chinese?
> 
> My gut feeling tells that the etymology also relates to poor black dogs. Those superstitious performances were/are melodramatic, you know.



No, it is not any kind of Singapore Chinese.

As Samantha has pointed out, 狗血淋头 is common here (Singapore) but I don't think it is related to the subject.

As a result of the influx of the Hong Kong made vampire movies in 1980s, we are also very well aware of the term 洒黑狗血.  Then again, it has also nothing to do with the subject too. I hope.


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## samanthalee

echo_zkl said:


> That's interesting. I never heard about it. Is that some kind of Singapore Chinese?



No, it's not a Singapore thing; it's a phrase from Taiwan.



BODYholic said:


> ... "現在回想起來 還真像是一場相當灑狗血的八點檔連續劇開頭". The blogger concerned lost a pet but it was found later. I presumed the person meant something dramatic, unexpected or the likes.



The person meant he/she had been acting melodramatic over the whole episode. 
“洒狗血” 是 哭天抢地，歇斯底里，煽情及至，drama-mama。


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## BODYholic

samanthalee said:


> “洒狗血” 是 哭天抢地，歇斯底里，煽情及至，drama-mama。


我想也是这样吧。因为他遗失了爱犬，相信该会把他家附近给翻了过来。还好后来找到了。万幸。


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