affluenza - screwing the pooch

[Herb Stahlke]

In the 1906 movie, Teddy Duchamp, the Corey Feldman role, says

Teddy:


You lose, Gordie! He-he-he-he! Gordie loses! Ole Gordie just screwed the
pooch!


So the expression would have been well-known in American English, at least
if Stephen King, and the screenwriters Raynold Gideon & Bruce A.
Evans<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_A._Evans>have any feel for
the language of samll town twelve-year-olds.



On Tue, Dec 17, 2013 at 9:06 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: affluenza - screwing the pooch
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> HDAS has US "fuck the dog" - in DAD's sense only.
>
> "Screw the pooch" was new to me when I read it in Tom Wolfe's _The Right
> Stuff_, still the earliest ex. in the HDAS vault.
>
> Nor do I recall any other "retrospective" cites attributing the phrase to
> the '60s, as does Wolfe.
>
> JL
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 17, 2013 at 8:46 PM, David A. Daniel <dad at pokerwiz.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: affluenza - screwing the pooch
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > OK, gonna jump in here on the screwing the pooch deal. I don't actually
> > think I've ever heard that in American English, and with that meaning
> > (which, of course, means nothing), but "fucking the dog", in British
> > English, has long meant "doing/did nothing - vegged". "What did you do
> this
> > afternoon?" "Nothing, fucked the dog."
> > DAD
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2013 11:20 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: affluenza
> >
> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: affluenza
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---
> >
> > On Dec 17, 2013, at 4:52 PM, victor steinbok wrote:
> >
> > > As opposed to offluenza that plagued the French Revolution
> > >
> > > VS-)
> >
> > Or "arfluenza", an unfortunate side effect of screwing the pooch.
>  Reminds
> > me--*we* talk about screwing the pooch, but what do *dogs* call it?
> >
> > LH
> >
> >
> > > On Dec 17, 2013 7:57 AM, "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > >> Subject:      Re: affluenza
> > >>
> > >>
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---
> > >>
> > >> I nominate "awfluenza," the disease that now plagues all of American
> > >> society and culture.
> > >>
> > >> JL
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> On Tue, Dec 17, 2013 at 2:57 AM, Victor Steinbok <
> aardvark66 at gmail.com
> > >>> wrote:
> > >>> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > >>> Subject:      Re: affluenza
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---
> > >>>
> > >>> Nevertheless, given the timing and the immediate shitstorm that the
> > case
> > >>> created, this may be a good WOTY candidate for one of the
> categories...
> > >>> Not likely to win overall...
> > >>>
> > >>>     VS-)
> > >>>
> > >>> On 12/12/2013 4:56 PM, David Barnhart wrote:
> > >>>> For what it's worth, _affluenza_ appeared as an entry in
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>> The Barnhart Dictionary Companion (Vol. 5.3-4, c1989) /
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Oxford Dictionary of New Words /
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Longman Register of New Words /
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Oxford English Dictionary--Additions Series 3 /
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Regards,
> > >>>>
> > >>>> David
> > >>>
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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