affluenza - screwing the pooch

[Dave Wilton]

"Stand By Me" came out two years after the film version of "The Right
Stuff," so it more likely reflects perceptions of c.1960 slang by 1980s
screenwriters rather than actual usage. (I haven't read King's "The Body" in
ages, but I don't recall the phrase being in it. And if it is, it would
still postdate Wolfe's book.)



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Herb Stahlke
Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2013 12:35 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: affluenza - screwing the pooch

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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>

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