"screw the pooch"

[Laurence Horn]

On Dec 18, 2013, at 3:47 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> Presumably STP once did mean the same as FTD, if only for a few unrecorded
> minutes.
>
> JL

I like FTD for "fuck the dog"; it allows us a whole new world of associations for the next time we wire flowers.

LH
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 3:23 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: "screw the pooch"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On Dec 18, 2013, at 2:16 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>>> 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
>>
>> So are we converging on a supposition that pooch-screwing in its variants
>> has undergone a reanalysis from 'fuck off' to 'fuck up'?  Or is this a
>> consistent distinction between "fuck the dog" and "screw the pooch"? Either
>> way, that's interesting.
>>
>> LH
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 1:38 PM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>> -----------------------
>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
>>>> Subject:      Re: "screw the pooch"
>>>>
>>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> On 12/17/2013 4:45 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>> -----------------------
>>>>> 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
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> 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."
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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