Man's Best Friend (catchphrase)

Man's Best Friend (catchphrase)

"Man's best friend" is a catchphrase for dogs, generally referring to the category as a whole. The popularization of the term is said to have occurred in a courtroom speech by George Graham Vest in Warrensburg, Missouri in 1870 who said, "The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog." The phrase was later shortened to "man’s best friend". Vest's speech came at the closing of a trial in which he was representing a farmer who was suing for damages after his dog Old Drum was shot by a neighbor.