# Screw the pooch ... Huh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143 "2003-02-06T05:18:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/21 "2003-02-06T18:13:03Z")
I used it in a thread the other day. I remember it being in a movie a while back- \* Stand By Me\*- “hee hee, Gordie really screwed the pooch on that one!” Now I wish I’d seen Law & Order last night! It’s a phrase that doesn’t get much use. Hey, when will PETA get in here to slag us? ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/22 "2003-02-06T18:53:33Z")
To add to the hijack of this, I saw a documentary in which they found the capsule and raised it to the surface (and took it home). They determined conclusively that the hatch had blown on its own. ---
**Author:** ![li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/li_l_Dickie_Dirtz)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/23 "2003-02-06T19:04:44Z")
[[Sam Shepard](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0086197) as Chuck Yeager] “Sometimes you get a pooch that can’t be screwed. Ol’ Gus, he did all right.” [/Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager] ---
**Author:** ![Pablito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@Pablito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pablito)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/24 "2003-02-06T20:36:32Z")
[less of a hijack than the apollo hijack] I had a boss when I worked on a boat for a while and his favorite invective, which he used pretty much every other sentence, was to yell at us to quit “fucking the dog” and to get back to work. Although the literal meaning of this and ‘screwing the pooch’ is essentially the same, clearly there’s quite a significant difference is what is meant by these two phrases. If I had to choose between the two—someone pointing a gun at my head and telling me to pick one–I’d rather screw the pooch than fuck the dog. 🙂 [/less of a hijack than the apollo hijack] ---
**Author:** ![emolson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5fc32e/32.png) [@emolson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emolson)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/25 "2003-02-06T21:58:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NurseCarmen \* > \*\ ***emolson** did this Question come up because you watched Jack McCoy say it on Law & Order last night? … \*\* Yeah. I was watching it with a friend, and she said “What the hell does **that** mean?” Suddenly I wasn’t so sure, so I came here to get _The Straight Dope_. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/26 "2003-02-07T05:28:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by t-keela \* > \*\*Menocchio, according to what I’ve just read…“there is no way we can prove conclusively, without the hatch”, Which is still at the bottom, probably lost for good. \*\* IIRC, Grissom’s widow’s _happy_ about that as well. She seemed to feel that it was a good thing that there was still a portion of Gus’s capsule at the bottom of the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/27 "2003-02-07T13:21:11Z")
> [@](#): > > as for Grissom, now that we have the Capsule back, has any new evidence come to light? [According to this site:](http://www.discovery.com/exp/libertybell7/dispatch.html) > [@](#): > > Another mystery, the one most associated with this mission, also remains unsolved. The Liberty Bell 7 sank after its hatch blew open while it was floating in the Atlantic Ocean. Although some have speculated that Grissom blew the hatch accidentally, NASA officials believed his statement that the hatch ripped apart on its own. > > Buckingham and the other members of the restoration crew haven’t been able to answer that riddle, but they may have turned up another piece of evidence. Near the gaping hole where the hatch had been they’ve found a buckled strip of titanium. It’s bowed a half-inch along that side, clearly the result of great force. But there are no signs of burn marks from the explosive device that supposedly blew the hatch open. > > Buckingham suggests that perhaps the explosive cord never detonated, and instead the capsule may have slammed hatch-down into the ocean, buckling the titanium strip and popping the 70 explosive-rigged bolts on the convex hatch, one by one. That could explain why the hatch came off prematurely, he says. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/28 "2003-02-07T13:30:08Z")
**WAG Alert!** I have a theory about “screwing the pooch”. I get the impressions that in the mid-20th Century young men would play a cruel game. (Mind, this impression probably comes from watching too many movies.) They would have contests to see who could bring the ugliest date to a party. The gag was to keep the unsuspecting girl in the dark about the game as long as poosible, and then laugh when she found out that the only reason this hot guy asked her out was because he thought she was the biggest “dog” around. If the guy actually had sex with her, then it would be assumed that he was such a loser that he could only have sex with an ugly woman. Thus, to “screw the pooch” would mean that you were so poor a “Man” that you couldn’t get an attractive woman. “Screwing the pooch”, then, would be an embarassment and you may as well paint a big “L” on your forehead. My other theory has already been mentioned: That one was caught in the act of having sex with a canine. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/29 "2003-02-07T15:20:58Z")
[http://www.tje.net/para/news/grissom\_murdered.htm](http://www.tje.net/para/news/grissom_murdered.htm) According to Grissom’s son, Ol’ Gus was murdered by NASA, so it seems the pooch was doing some screwing too…:dubious: New phrase? Why he’s just, “pooch screwed”, similar to “snake bit”? hmmm Anyway…I guess the OP’s kinda been answered, huh? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/30 "2003-06-05T17:20:42Z")
Two young co-workers, slightly rumpled, are talking beside the Bunn-o-Matic. Mike: Man, that was some night! Jim (a little sheepish): Yeah. Mike: I mean, we must have drunk everything in the place! Jim: Mmm-hmm. Mike: Hey man, what’s wrong? Last time I saw you, you were dancin’ with that stripper’s pasties glued to your glasses! Dude! Jim: Well, I’m a little ashamed. After I got home, I stumbled upstairs and, well, I blew chunks. Mike (frowning): So what? I throw up a lot. PAUSE Jim: Chunks is my dog. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/31 "2003-06-05T19:00:43Z")
**Pablito’s** boss was evidently using ther term in an earlier sense. [This site](http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-03-21.htm) says: > [@](#): > > Going further, a number of WWII veterans wrote to tell me that _I_ was the one who screwed the pooch because the the phrase was much older than I thought; and that “screwing the pooch” itself was a highly modified and mellowed version of a much harsher original phrase: > > > [@](#): > > > > Fred: I loved your explanation of “pooched” and its roots. However! You did not go back far enough. The phrase “screw the pooch” itself was derived from an earlier phrase that was quite familiar to those of us in the service in WW2. I was a Fire Control Computer technician (Fire Controlman) in the US Navy 1944-1946. > > > > Anyone who has ever been in the military has spent an inordinate amount of time in a “stand-by” formation waiting for someone to get the orders to start some activity. Many man-hours were spent in an activity that was commonly known as “Effing the dog.” [Note: They didn’t really say, “Effing,” but I’m sure you can figure it out.] Back home in civilian life this was cleaned up to the slightly more acceptable “screwing the pooch”. Love the LangaLetter, keep up the good work. —Cleg, FC3C, USNR, 1944-46 and so does [this one](http://www.wordorigins.org/index.htm). > [@](#): > > The phrase screw the pooch, meaning to mess up, commit a grievous error, was made famous in Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff. The phrase is a euphemism from US military slang. The original expression was fuck the dog and meant to waste time, to loaf on the job. > > Fuck the dog dates appears in print for the first time in 1935, but in 1918 another euphemistic version, feeding the dog, appears. The original sense dates to 1918. Over the decades, the meaning shifted to the current sense and the screw the pooch wording took the place of the original phrasing. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/32 "2003-06-05T20:05:18Z")
According to [THIS SITE](http://www.wordorigins.org/wordors.htm) it’s origins are > [@](#): > > Screw the Pooch > The phrase screw the pooch, meaning to mess up, commit a grievous error, was made famous in Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff. The phrase is a euphemism from US military slang. The original expression was fuck the dog and meant to waste time, to loaf on the job. > > Fuck the dog dates appears in print for the first time in 1935, but in 1918 another euphemistic version, feeding the dog, appears. The original sense dates to 1918. Over the decades, the meaning shifted to the current sense and the screw the pooch wording took the place of the original phrasing. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/33 "2003-06-06T00:35:42Z")
Quite a find, **Khadaji**. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/34 "2003-06-06T00:37:38Z")
“Screwing the Pooch” therefore means getting caught in a situation where the exposure is far more consequential than the actual offense. from KROKODIL Kinda Sammy Sosa-ish? ---
**Author:** ![FranticMad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c68b51/32.png) [@FranticMad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FranticMad)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/35 "2003-06-06T03:45:21Z")
Hmmm…I heard this term too many years ago from a blue collar worker in an isolated region. Since then I heard it used many times with the following meaning: to be doing nothing; to be wasting time. A bunch of guys hired by the county to fix roads actually spent their time leaning on shovels and talking about women. They were “fuckin’ the dog.” Later, when the road work they were **supposed** to do wasn’t finished, and the supervisor nearly wrecked his car on that stretch of road as a result, he yelled “What were you guys doing all day? Just fuckin’ the dog, right?” “Screwing the pooch” is the polite form of the phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/36 "2003-06-06T05:49:43Z")
How is it that “screw the pooch” means to make some sort of colossal mistake, but “dog fucking” means wasting time / not working? -FK ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/37 "2003-06-06T06:17:23Z")
C’mon now, [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=3521211#post3521211) is a good joke. **Besides, it got me 75 points for resurrecting this crusty thread…** ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/38 "2003-06-06T09:25:41Z")
Perhaps the shift in meaning of the phrase came about via Tom Wolfe (or the test-pilots from whom he presumably got the phrase)? After all, if a pilot flying an experimental plane at near-supersonic speeds goofs off on the job, the results are likely to be … dramatic. In this context, of course, “goofing off” would amount to a split-second’s inattention or hesitation. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/39 "2003-06-06T10:28:22Z")
Words and idioms evolve all the time. Thus, the phrase “screwing/f–king the pooch”, having once meaning “wasting time”, could easily evolve to mean a major screwup. Incidentally, I’ve read a lot about the explosive bolt controversy regarding Grissom, but in the end the long history of the technology combined with its incredibly brutal testing convinces me that Grissom did indeed screw the pooch, although he may well have honestly believed otherwise. Memory is often quite unreliable. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143/40 "2003-06-06T11:20:44Z")
As regards the OP, Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang backs up the theories given here. It gives “screw the pooch” as a variant, dating back to the 1960s, of “fuck the dog”, which in itself dates back to the 1910s and meant originally “to waste time or slack off on a job” and later “to make a blunder”. It also gives the variants “fuck the dog and sell the pups” and “fornicate the poodle”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-the-pooch-huh/153143.md?page=1)