PETER PINDAR
Preserved but no longer current.
Odes of Condolence. Give a dog a bad name and hang him. If you want to do anyone a wrong, throw dirt on him or rail against him. When once a person's reputation has been besmirched he might as well be hanged as try to rehabilitate himself.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “PETER PINDAR” mean?
Odes of Condolence. Give a dog a bad name and hang him. If you want to do anyone a wrong, throw dirt on him or rail against him. When once a person's reputation has been besmirched he might as well be hanged as try to rehabilitate himself.
Is “PETER PINDAR” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.