What does the expression “he ate the dog on this one” mean?
If you meet a person who is an expert in something, don’t be surprised if they say about them: «Он на этом собаку съел» (“on na etom sobaku siel” or “he ate the dog on this”)!
Of course, they didn’t eat anyone and they wouldn’t have to. After all, this expression was transformed from the proverb: “He ate a dog, but choked on his tail.” It means that even a person who is capable of coping with even the most difficult task can make a trivial mistake and fail.
In the 19th century, the first part of the proverb became widespread – it began to be used in everyday speech and in literature. For example, the hero of Anton Chekhov’s story says this about his acquaintance: “…the devil knows who he was, but he was a remarkably smart guy and he ate the dog in philosophy.”
English equivalents would be: “To know something like the back of your hand” or “To know the ropes”.
