"could not get elected dogcatcher" meaning in English

{
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "dogcatcher"
      },
      "expansion": "dogcatcher",
      "name": "m"
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "Dogcatchers are virtually never elected to their posts; the phrase is hyperbole, using dogcatcher to indicate the most lowly conceivable office.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "could not get elected dogcatcher",
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  "hyphenation": [
    "could"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
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          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Politics",
          "orig": "en:Politics",
          "parents": [
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
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        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1889 February 18, Chicago Herald, quotee, “Unpopular with rascals”, in The Courier-Journal, volume LXXIV, number 7,355 (New Series), Louisville, Ky.: Louisville Courier-Journal Print. Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 6",
          "text": "An insolent Republican newspaper asserts that Mr. Cleveland [i.e., Grover Cleveland] is so unpopular in Washington that he could not be elected dog catcher for the district. This may be true, yet Mr. Cleveland has caught a great many dogs in his day—stealing. His success in that line would naturally make him unpopular with the claims agents and other parasites that throng the capital.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918 October 15, “The City Manager Plan. [Condenst Paragrafs.]”, in J. W. Scroogs, editor, University of Oklahoma Bulletin (New Series; no. 156; University Extension Series; no. 43), Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma, →OCLC, page 60",
          "text": "It is a well known fact that the average American town will not elect well educated men to municipal offices if they can help it. A man who wears kid gloves and a plug hat couldn't be elected dog catcher in any town in Oklahoma. That is why the affirmative wish the city manager to be elected by a commission.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 October, credited to Robert Ludlum, chapter 15, in The Bancroft Strategy, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, page 264",
          "text": "Men like him couldn't get elected dogcatcher. He was a natural lieutenant, not a leader, and it was a fact he accepted with neither bitterness nor regret.\nThe title page of the work states: “Since his death [in 2001] the Estate of Robert Ludlum has worked with a carefully selected author and editor to prepare and edit this work for publication.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 September 12, Philip Eliot, “GOP Tries to Take Out Tea Party-backed Candidate”, in Yahoo! News, archived from the original on 2010-09-22",
          "text": "\"She's [Christine O'Donnell's] not a viable candidate for any office in the state of Delaware,\" said the state party chairman, Tom Ross, who is backing [Mike] Castle. \"She could not be elected dog catcher.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 October 25, John L. Micek, “Trump just keeps digging deeper and deeper”, in The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.: Gannett, →ISSN, →OCLC",
          "text": "[Donald] Trump, who has a glancing relationship with the truth and speaks English only as a second language, has hurled his insults at [Bob] Corker (whom he said couldn't get elected dog-catcher in his home state) and at [John] McCain — even as he journeyed to Capitol Hill to try to build support for tax reform.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Said of someone, particularly a politician, who is extremely unpopular."
      ],
      "id": "en-could_not_get_elected_dogcatcher-en-phrase-y3ky8Khr",
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          "extremely",
          "extremely#English"
        ],
        [
          "unpopular",
          "unpopular#English"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, chiefly US, politics, hyperbolic) Said of someone, particularly a politician, who is extremely unpopular."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "unelectable"
        },
        {
          "word": "run like a dry creek"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "excessive",
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "politics"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "said of someone, particularly a politician, who is extremely unpopular",
          "word": "ei äänestäisi kukaan"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "The Slate Group"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kəd ˌnɒt ɡɛt ɪˌlɛktɪd ˈdɒɡkæt͡ʃə/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
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      "ipa": "/kəd ˌnɑt ɡɛt əˌlɛktɪd ˈdɔɡˌkæt͡ʃəɹ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
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      "ipa": "/-iˌlɛktɪd-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-could not get elected dogcatcher.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/En-au-could_not_get_elected_dogcatcher.ogg/En-au-could_not_get_elected_dogcatcher.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/En-au-could_not_get_elected_dogcatcher.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "could not get elected dogcatcher"
}

{
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        "2": "dogcatcher"
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      "expansion": "dogcatcher",
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  "etymology_text": "Dogcatchers are virtually never elected to their posts; the phrase is hyperbole, using dogcatcher to indicate the most lowly conceivable office.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "could not get elected dogcatcher",
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  "hyphenation": [
    "could"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "unelectable"
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    {
      "word": "run like a dry creek"
    }
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        "English negative polarity items",
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        {
          "ref": "1889 February 18, Chicago Herald, quotee, “Unpopular with rascals”, in The Courier-Journal, volume LXXIV, number 7,355 (New Series), Louisville, Ky.: Louisville Courier-Journal Print. Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 6",
          "text": "An insolent Republican newspaper asserts that Mr. Cleveland [i.e., Grover Cleveland] is so unpopular in Washington that he could not be elected dog catcher for the district. This may be true, yet Mr. Cleveland has caught a great many dogs in his day—stealing. His success in that line would naturally make him unpopular with the claims agents and other parasites that throng the capital.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918 October 15, “The City Manager Plan. [Condenst Paragrafs.]”, in J. W. Scroogs, editor, University of Oklahoma Bulletin (New Series; no. 156; University Extension Series; no. 43), Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma, →OCLC, page 60",
          "text": "It is a well known fact that the average American town will not elect well educated men to municipal offices if they can help it. A man who wears kid gloves and a plug hat couldn't be elected dog catcher in any town in Oklahoma. That is why the affirmative wish the city manager to be elected by a commission.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 October, credited to Robert Ludlum, chapter 15, in The Bancroft Strategy, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, page 264",
          "text": "Men like him couldn't get elected dogcatcher. He was a natural lieutenant, not a leader, and it was a fact he accepted with neither bitterness nor regret.\nThe title page of the work states: “Since his death [in 2001] the Estate of Robert Ludlum has worked with a carefully selected author and editor to prepare and edit this work for publication.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 September 12, Philip Eliot, “GOP Tries to Take Out Tea Party-backed Candidate”, in Yahoo! News, archived from the original on 2010-09-22",
          "text": "\"She's [Christine O'Donnell's] not a viable candidate for any office in the state of Delaware,\" said the state party chairman, Tom Ross, who is backing [Mike] Castle. \"She could not be elected dog catcher.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 October 25, John L. Micek, “Trump just keeps digging deeper and deeper”, in The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.: Gannett, →ISSN, →OCLC",
          "text": "[Donald] Trump, who has a glancing relationship with the truth and speaks English only as a second language, has hurled his insults at [Bob] Corker (whom he said couldn't get elected dog-catcher in his home state) and at [John] McCain — even as he journeyed to Capitol Hill to try to build support for tax reform.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Said of someone, particularly a politician, who is extremely unpopular."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ],
        [
          "politician",
          "politician#English"
        ],
        [
          "extremely",
          "extremely#English"
        ],
        [
          "unpopular",
          "unpopular#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, chiefly US, politics, hyperbolic) Said of someone, particularly a politician, who is extremely unpopular."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "excessive",
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "politics"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "The Slate Group"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kəd ˌnɒt ɡɛt ɪˌlɛktɪd ˈdɒɡkæt͡ʃə/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kəd ˌnɑt ɡɛt əˌlɛktɪd ˈdɔɡˌkæt͡ʃəɹ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-iˌlɛktɪd-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
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    {
      "audio": "En-au-could not get elected dogcatcher.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/En-au-could_not_get_elected_dogcatcher.ogg/En-au-could_not_get_elected_dogcatcher.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/En-au-could_not_get_elected_dogcatcher.ogg",
      "tags": [
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    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "said of someone, particularly a politician, who is extremely unpopular",
      "word": "ei äänestäisi kukaan"
    }
  ],
  "word": "could not get elected dogcatcher"
}