affluenza - screwing the pooch

[Jonathan Lighter]

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
> >>>
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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