"screw the pooch"

[Jonathan Lighter]

1938 (Feb. 19) in Alvah Bessie _Spanish Civil War Notebooks_ (Lexington:
U.P. of Ky., 2002) 9: _Goldbrick_-- malingerer      _fuck the dog_ -  to
malinger.

JL




On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 1:38 PM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "screw the pooch"
>
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>
> On 12/17/2013 4:45 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      "screw the pooch"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Wiktionary says this of "screw the pooch":
> >
> > ....
> >
> > Anyone have firmer evidence about the origins of the phrase?
> --
>
> No real evidence, just an imperfect memory. Around 1967-70, I heard
> routinely "f*ck the dog", and I also heard a variety of frivolous
> equivalents. The only one I remember for sure is the peculiar
> "intercourse the canine". Other ones surely had "screw" and "mutt" but I
> can't remember exactly which combinations I heard. I don't remember
> whether "screw the pooch" was among these or not, but even if it wasn't
> I suppose it likely occurred on the same basis somewhere, then or
> earlier. I don't know which of these phrases had how much currency. All
> of them however meant (as I understood them) "goof off" or "do nothing"
> rather than "make a blunder" (i.e., = "f*ck off" rather than "f*ck up",
> some might say).
>
> When I heard "screw the pooch" clearly meaning "make a big blunder" or
> so, much later, perhaps 1990 or so, I remember I was surprised by the
> meaning but not by the words employed, so I suppose I had heard "screw
> the pooch" = "goof off" at some point.
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
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