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The meaning and origin of the expression: Dog's breakfast

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Dog's breakfast

Meaning

A mess or muddle.

Origin

This is a 20th century phrase. Eric Partridge, in the 1937 edition of his A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English lists it as "a mess: low Glasgow".

This is not to be confused with the the similar phrase - dog's dinner which, although coined around the same time, has a completely different meaning.