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

[Laurence Horn]

Is there any reasonable speculation on the origin of the expression?  Was (metaphorical) “fuck the dog” already in widespread use before “screw the pooch” arose?  Is it clear what prompted it?  It strikes me as being analogous in some ways to “jump the shark”, but that one has a straightforward origin story.  Presumably there’s no TV episode we can blame for this one.

LH

> On Oct 23, 2018, at 3:46 PM, MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL> wrote:
> 
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
> 
> 
>> ----
>> 
>> "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.
> 
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
> 
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org