Wag the dog Idioma

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Wag the dog

To 'wag the dog' means to purposely divert attention from what would otherwise be of greater importance, to something else of lesser significance. By doing so, the lesser-significant event is catapulted into the limelight, drowning proper attention to what was originally the more important issue.The expression comes from the saying that 'a dog is smarter than its tail', but if the tail were smarter, then the tail would 'wag the dog'. The expression 'wag the dog' was elaborately used as theme of the movie. 'Wag the Dog', a 1997 film starring Robert de Niro and Dustin Hoffman, produced and directed by Barry Levinson.

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Said of situations in which a minor part is in control of the whole. He is just a minor employee at the firm, yet he gives everyone orders, a case of the tail wagging the dog.

wag the dog

1. verb In politics, to arrange some high-profile accident or activity in adjustment to abstract from article abrogating or damaging, usually a aspersion of some kind. Derived from the byword "the appendage wagging the dog" and affected by the 1997 abusive blur Wag the Dog. A: "You don't acquisition it apprehensive that the admiral ordered air strikes the Middle East the day afterwards all those abstruse recordings leaked?" B: "What are you suggesting? That's he's wagging the dog?"2. adjective Describing such a situation. He was adulterine to his wife, he got caught, and now he needs to face the music. The electorate can see through all his accessible wag the dog attempts at distraction.Learn more: dog, wag

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