# "F\*\*k the Dog" ??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887 "2005-08-20T16:26:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/1 "2005-08-20T16:26:05Z")
In my neck of the woods (Southern Ontario) a "dogf**ker" is a lazy bastard ie) "Don’t send him to do it, he’ll just f**k the dog. My gf is American and had never heard the expression untill she came to Canada. I never understood the corelation between this particular act of bestiality and sloth although I am familiar with the term “screw the pooch” which I believe means make a mess of things. Is “f\*\*k the dog” an idiom peculiar to my geographic region? How on earth did it come to mean lazy? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/2 "2005-08-20T16:27:41Z")
lol - I think it would get your arrested here! 🙂 Never heard of that one. (I like hearing new sayings) ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/3 "2005-08-20T16:40:35Z")
I’m only about an hour east of cambridge and I don’t think I’ve ever heard the expression… but then I’m a city boy and it sounds a little bit more like a country or woodsy expression. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/4 "2005-08-20T16:51:27Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > I’m only about an hour east of cambridge and I don’t think I’ve ever heard the expression… but then I’m a city boy and it sounds a little bit more like a country or woodsy expression. > > 😃 I work at the Ford plant in Oakville and although that’s not where I heard it first it’s certainly where I hear it the most. (Not in relation to me however) ---
**Author:** ![Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meaty_Beaty_Big_and_Bouncy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/5 "2005-08-20T17:00:40Z")
I’ve also heard it used as a joke: " Last night I was so drunk I kicked the old lady and fucked the dog. " ---
**Author:** ![Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meaty_Beaty_Big_and_Bouncy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/6 "2005-08-20T17:01:51Z")
I think he was joking. At least I hope he was. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/7 "2005-08-20T17:02:04Z")
Have you ever heard the phrase “screw the pooch?” That’s the cleaned-up version of “fuck the dog.” As I understand it, “fucking (or dicking) the dog” was originally military slang for really fucking something up, and that phrase came first, even though it seems like the cleaner version is more prevalent now. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/8 "2005-08-20T17:03:34Z")
Yeah, you mentioned “screw the pooch” already. I got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Future\_days](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cab0a1/32.png) [@Future\_days](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_days)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/9 "2005-08-20T17:48:02Z")
Perhaps there was someone in the army who got caught f\*cking a dog when he should have been working. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/10 "2005-08-20T18:27:31Z")
At my boyfriend’s work, a francophone said ‘fuck the dog’ one day. Everyone assumed it was an amusing mistranslation. ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/11 "2005-08-20T18:27:46Z")
I never heard of that phrase, and I went to school in Southern Ontario. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/12 "2005-08-20T19:14:09Z")
It’s a pretty common expression amongst working-class folk here in B.C. One of my housemates once dumbfounded a visitor from San Francisco by responding to a polite “Whatcha been up to?” with “Oh, just downstairs fuckin’ the dog.” We actually had a dog in the house at the time. I’m not sure why this expression is more widespread in Canada than it is in the United States. The first time I ever heard it was in the American punk band _The Scumfucs_ breakout hit, _Fuckin’ the Dog_. > [@](#): > > Everybody’s got something to do > I’ve got nothing but this empty room > Everybody’s got some kind of job > Everybody’s got someone to love > Not me – I’m fuckin’ the dog > > Everybody’s got somewhere to go > I’ve got nothing but this dirty hole > Everybody’s going out tonight > I’m staying here and out of sight > Yeah, fuckin’ the dog. It got a _lot_ of play on college and indy stations in the early eighties. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/13 "2005-08-20T19:14:31Z")
I first heard that expression in New Brunswick, and to go along with it, “making ugly puppies” I havent really heard it anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/14 "2005-08-20T20:01:00Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > It’s a pretty common expression amongst working-class folk here in B.C. In my experience, it’s not just working class. I first heard the term when i lived in Vancouver, and most of the folks using it were solidly middle- and upper-middle-class university students. I love the phrase, and still use it occasionally, even though it gets me some odd looks from people who haven’t heard it before. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/15 "2005-08-20T20:12:03Z")
I heard it in the Kootenays in BC, too. Working class? Maybe. It was in the mine at Kimberley, BC. It’s colourful, but being dog-lover, I don’t really care for it. Not \*that \*kind of dog-lover! ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/16 "2005-08-20T23:17:05Z")
> [@LaurAnge](#): > > At my boyfriend’s work, a francophone said ‘fuck the dog’ one day. Everyone assumed it was an amusing mistranslation. Yes, “fourrer le chien” is used in French (Québec French, that is), with the same meaning. I don’t know where it originated, though. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/17 "2005-08-21T00:06:33Z")
Some of [this](http://www.answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=474661) material that I gathered for a client may be of interest. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/18 "2005-08-21T00:16:31Z")
Sorry, posted the wrong link above. The link I posted is also appropriate, but [this](http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=350436) is the material I gathered for my client. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/19 "2005-08-21T01:24:17Z")
> [@severus](#): > > Yes, “fourrer le chien” is used in French (Québec French, that is), with the same meaning. I don’t know where it originated, though. Never heard that one. But I heard _fucké le chien_ quite frequently. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887/20 "2005-08-21T01:24:37Z")
> [@Jimmy Chitwood](#): > > Have you ever heard the phrase “screw the pooch?” That’s the cleaned-up version of “fuck the dog.” As I understand it, “fucking (or dicking) the dog” was originally military slang for really fucking something up, and that phrase came first, even though it seems like the cleaner version is more prevalent now. I find this unlikely. In discourse where someone was trying to avoid using offensive expressions, “screw the pooch” would be unacceptable as much as “fuck the dog.” Note that Tom Wolfe in a **book** about miltary pilots training to be astronauts has them saying “screw the pooch”. Why would any writer of a book feel a need to clean up the language used by military men rather than just use the words they were actually saying? As if bookstores wouldn’t carry the book if he used “fuck the dog”, so he needed to change it to “screw the pooch”? Only way to know would be to ask these early astronauts what exact term they were using (some are still alive), but I’ll bet they really did utter “screw the pooch”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-k-the-dog/317887.md?page=2)