By Daniel, ESL Educator & Idiom Series Author
It’s night in the woods of nineteenth-century America. A hunting dog has chased a raccoon, and now it stands under a tall tree, barking with total confidence. The hunter runs over, looks up… and the tree is empty. The raccoon is somewhere else.
The dog worked hard. It was loud, sure of itself, and completely wrong.
Quick answer: If you’re barking up the wrong tree, you’re looking for something in the wrong place, blaming the wrong person, or following a wrong idea.
A phrase from the American frontier
The picture really does come from hunting. Dogs would chase an animal until it climbed a tree, then bark at the bottom so the hunter could find it. According to Wikipedia’s summary of early sources, in nineteenth-century America this was common in raccoon hunting, often done at night. In the dark, a dog could easily choose the wrong tree.
The phrase shows up in print in the early 1830s. The Phrase Finder gives the earliest known example as James Kirke Paulding’s 1832 novel Westward Ho!, where a character plans to set someone “barking up the wrong tree a little,” meaning to mislead him. The next year it appeared in Sketches of David Crockett (1833), and soon it was popping up in American newspapers.
So this is an American idiom, born in the time of frontier stories, which later traveled to the rest of the English-speaking world.
The hidden message: “It wasn’t me”
Dictionaries say this idiom means “to be mistaken.” That’s true, but it misses how people really use it.
Very often, the speaker is the wrong tree. Someone is blaming them, asking them for something, or expecting something from them, and they are saying, “Look somewhere else.”
- “If you think I ate your cake, you’re barking up the wrong tree.” (= I didn’t do it.)
- “If you want someone to fix your car, you’re barking up the wrong tree. I can’t even change a tire.” (= I’m not the right person.)
- “If he thinks I’ll lend him money again, he’s barking up the wrong tree.” (= It won’t happen.)
Because of this, the phrase can sound a little sharp, especially with “you.” With friends it’s playful. With a boss or customer, it may sound defensive. A softer choice is, “I think there’s been a mix-up. It wasn’t me.”
When there’s no blame involved, it’s neutral: “The scientists were barking up the wrong tree for years before they found the real cause.”
Grammar in a nutshell
- It’s almost always continuous: you’re barking, they were barking. The “-ing” form fits because it describes a mistaken effort that’s still going on.
- The most common frame is “If you think…, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
- Keep “the wrong tree.” Not “a wrong tree,” and not “the wrong trees.”
- The verb is bark up, not “bark at” or “bark on.”
In conversation
Elena: Carlos, did you change the Wi-Fi password? Nothing works.
Carlos: You’re barking up the wrong tree. I don’t even know the old one.
Elena: Then who…?
Carlos: Ask Nina. She was complaining about the neighbors using it.
Elena: Of course. Sorry, Carlos!
Similar, but not the same
- on the wrong track: following a wrong method or idea; no blame involved.
- miss the mark: fail to be accurate or successful.
- a wild goose chase: a long, useless search for something you’ll never find.
Check yourself
Which situation fits the idiom best?
a) Leo looks for his keys in the kitchen, but they’re in his coat pocket.
b) Leo finds his keys right away.
c) Leo decides to stay home.
Answer: a. Leo is searching in the wrong place. You could say, “You’re barking up the wrong tree. Check your coat.”
Bonus: Your roommate accuses you of finishing the milk, but you don’t even drink milk. Answer with the idiom.
Possible answer: “If you think I drank the milk, you’re barking up the wrong tree. I don’t even like it!”
A Note from Daniel
What I find most interesting about this idiom is the dog. It never doubts itself, not even for a second. It barks with complete confidence at an empty tree. Somehow, that image has made people laugh and see themselves in it for almost two hundred years. Most of us have been that dog at least once. If you have a story about a time you were barking up the wrong tree, I’d really like to hear it.
Sources
- Martin, G. “Barking up the wrong tree.” The Phrase Finder. phrases.org.uk
- “Barking up the wrong tree.” Wikipedia. wikipedia.org
Every word carries a story. Stay curious. — Daniel