pavement special

English

WOTD – 30 July 2024

Etymology

A pavement special in Cuba.

From pavement +‎ special (“thing which is distinctive or out of the ordinary”, noun), referring to the fact that stray dogs are often found roaming around on pavements.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpeɪvm(ə)nt ˈspɛʃl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpeɪvm(ə)nt ˈspɛʃ(ə)l/
• Rhymes: -ɛʃəl
• Hyphenation: pave‧ment spe‧cial

Noun

pavement special (plural pavement specials)

1. (South Africa) A dog (especially a stray dog) of miscellaneous ancestry; a mongrel, a mutt.

   Synonym: Heinz 57

   • 1996 (date written), Brett Bailey, “Notes from the Wilderness”, in The Plays of Miracle & Wonder: Bewitching Visions and Primal High-jinx from the South African Stage, Cape Town, South Africa: Double Storey Books, Juta, published 2003, →ISBN, page 36:

     [E]very mangy, threadbare, snarling cur pariah pavement-special dog that ever got kicked in the ribs appears from the shadows of twisted dreams and with flashing fangs bears down on the injured party to rip her apart in a streak of blood and matted fur.

   • 2001, Raymond Coppinger, Lorna Coppinger, “Village Dogs”, in Dogs: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN, page 69:

     As I move around the world studying working dogs, there always seems to be another population of dogs hanging around. They are part of the background. When I ask about these dogs, they are described to me as the local mutts, mongrels, pavement specials, crossbreeds.

   • 2011, Eckart Schumann, chapter 3, in Patterns of Change, New York, N.Y.: Eloquent Books, AEG Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 29:

     Two smaller pavement specials ranged alongside, and made up for size by their barking.

   • 2012 July, Lawrence Anthony, with Graham Spence, chapter 3, in The Last Rhinos: The Powerful Story of One Man’s Battle to Save a Species, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, →ISBN, pages 22–23:

     And then there was Gypsy, a little black rescue dog we picked up from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Gypsy was a wonderful mutt, a ‘pavement special’ as we say, who had a heart as big as Africa.

   • 2013 March 6, Resh Ramlakan, Fur Kids: Angels on Earth, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 11:

     In Park Rynie, down the south coast in Kwa Zulu Natal, where I had grown up, we only saw and heard of people keeping Alsatians, Rottweilers, Labradors, poodles, and the common pavement specials. My knowledge of dogs was actually pathetic, but the subject had never interested me.

Translations

dog of miscellaneous ancestry — see mutt

Further reading

• mongrel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia