[Ads-l] [EEMSG-SPAM: Suspect][Non-DoD Source] pooched (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Ben Zimmer]

Nice find, Bill (though your employer has really pooched the subject line).

I wrote about "screw the pooch" back in 2014, but I didn't have a print
source as early as 1969. There are various reports of oral use going back
to 1950.

https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/01/screw-the-pooch-etymology-of-the-idiom-dates-back-to-nasa-and-the-military.html


On Tue, Oct 23, 2018 at 3:47 PM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM
AMRDEC (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:

>
> > ----
> >
> > "Screwed."
> >
> > Nicolle Wallace on _Deadline: White House_ yesterday:
> >
> > "The second member of the Dowd-Cobb team [is] basically acknowledging
> that, on obstruction, the President's pooched."
> >
> > < screw the pooch (popularized by _The Right Stuff_) < fuck the dog
> >
> > JL
>
> Don't know the dating that HDAS has on this, but I looked the phrase up in
> HathiTrust and found it:
>
> [The Peace Corps} _The Peace Corps Reader_ Washington DC: Office of Public
> Affairs, Peace Corps, 1969. p.  88.
>
> "Oh, man, did I ever screw the pooch on this one -- they can't write!"
>
> From the cover design, it almost looks to be for a juvenile audience.
>
>

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