Screw the pooch

gawker
Older than dirt
A dancer who I’ve known for awhile called me on Sunday afternoon, told me about a flat tire that she drove on, ruining the tire, being broke, etc. She said her mother was putting money in her checking account in the morning and if I’d loan her $100 she could buy a new tire and she’d put $100 in my checking account in the morning. We’ve exchanged money this way before, seamlessly and fee free. I got busy on Monday and used my debit card for several small purchases. Well, she hadn’t put the money in and I incurred an overdraft fee of $35.00 five times ($175).
When I texted her I said “You really screwed the pooch” this time.
She wrote back saying “What the hell are you accusing me of doing?”
Anyone know where that idiom came from? Does anyone still use the phrase? I’ve heard it all my life when someone makes an embarrassing mistake.

31 comments

  • san_jose_guy
    5 years ago
    Once a woman wanted me to cosign for a car loan. Instead of doing that I gave her a loan. But for myself I considered the money to be a gift.

    I feel I was smart in how I handled it, made her happy, but did not take on any debt or responsibility.

    This was someone I was close to so the money I gave her in the "loan" could be seen as warranted.

    Spending money, but minimizing liability.

    If you had money to just give her, that would have done it. You could have then gotten her between the sheets ASAP.

    If you did not have the cash, then hard. Maybe help her put the spare tire on? Could you change the tire then take the wheel to a tire shop and credit card a tire for her?

    Always looking for ways which might cost money, but they do not create any liability for you.

    Women do things like that sometimes with cars.

    SJG
  • gawker
    5 years ago
    The story about the loan was only to give proper setting for use of the idiom.
  • san_jose_guy
    5 years ago
    One guy here went to a strip club and they fixed him up with a young girl and they did OTC. They had a good time, but he had to get to the airport. So he trusted the girl to return his rentacar, after refilling its gas tank. He gave her money for this.

    She did return the car, but she did not fill its tank. She pocketed the money, then he got a bill for more than it would have cost to refill the tank. Again, he let the girl have a means of screwing him.

    Would have been better if he had had more time with the girl and been able to drive her home and all, and then been able to take care of his own affairs.

    SJG
  • Papi_Chulo
    5 years ago
    Most likely it was a problem with the bank - I'm 99.99% sure she put the $$$ in your account as she said she would - strippers are known to follow thru.
  • Papi_Chulo
    5 years ago
    Have never heard that phrase being used - likely been out of circulation for a good while
  • twentyfive
    5 years ago
    Used to be quite a common expression, if you ever watched the movie "the Right Stuff" it was a pretty common phrase back in the day.
  • Warrior15
    5 years ago
    Yeah, I think this is an age thing. I have heard the phrase and knew what you meant. But I haven't heard it used in quite some time.
  • gawker
    5 years ago
    Once again, the bank story was there to illustrate the use of the phrase.
    I did find a reference to pre- WW II where if a person had been broke as a result of a mistake one might say “fuck the dog (and sell the puppies). After WW II this got changed to “Screw the pooch”. Apparently it was said to Gus Grissom during initial astronaut training. Tom Wolfe picked it up and used it in his book The Right Stuff (1979)
  • prevert
    5 years ago
    It’s still fairly common in the military. Means to royally fuck up. I don’t know where it came from though.
  • SmashingHoes
    5 years ago
    Why are you loaning these hoes money? The Captain Save a Hoe theme isnt a good look.

    You should have told her to call AAA and if that didnt work, then she needs to post up on the corner and get on her knees to make that money.

    You're NOT friends with these women and they just view you as an ATM with their half assed falsified stories about being down on their luck.
  • gawker
    5 years ago
    She’s coming to my house Saturday evening and going home on Sunday. No money will change hands. Draw your own conclusions.
  • georgmicrodong
    5 years ago
    @gawker, I always heard it was the Navy flyboys that started that phrase.
  • Uprightcitizen
    5 years ago
    It's very common in military and civilian aviation for totally fucking up. Most early astronauts were former military aviators. From my understanding it's from old joke. Here is a reference...

    https://www.quora.com/Where-did-the-phra…
  • gawker
    5 years ago
    Good joke. Thank you.
  • Papi_Chulo
    5 years ago
    I can't believe you didn't check the account to see if the $$$ was there b/f you started using the ATM card - haven't you heard of "trust but verify" - w.r.t. strippers it's "don't trust and definitely verify"
    😄
  • anthony6613
    5 years ago
    I know the phrase. I have never personally used it. A generational difference. Rule 1. Never trust a stripper. Rule 2. Always remember Rule 1.
  • Cashman1234
    5 years ago
    This is an idiom that may have been more common in the past. However, using it with a stripper can be dangerous.

    I’d expect a reply of - That costs extra! - or I’m not that freaky!
  • bullzeye
    5 years ago
    Have heard it before. It’s one used by an “older” generation. Not used so much anymore. I frequently use idioms, acronyms or foreign language phrases and I wonder if the dancers I communicate with get them all the time. For example, two terms I used and then wondered about afterwards were FUBAR and SNAFU.

    It’s even worse with dancers who are originally from other countries, Brazil, Russia, etc...
  • jackslash
    5 years ago
    I still use SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fucked Up).
  • MackTruck
    5 years ago
    Someone fucked a dog?
  • MackTruck
    5 years ago
    How sad
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    5 years ago
    It was popularized in Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book The Right Stuff, which is about the Mercury space program, and its 1983 film adaptation.

    Here's an article about the origin of the phrase:
    https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/01…

    I've also heard that it's half the punchline to an old joke: "I was so drunk that I kicked the wife and screwed the pooch." Or something like that.
  • skibum609
    5 years ago
    Its an old term. haven't heard it since the viet nam war.
  • gammanu95
    5 years ago
    I've heard it before, frequently, but it does seem fairly dated. Some history of the idiom here:

    https://english.stackexchange.com/questi…
  • loper
    5 years ago
    First time I heard it was in the book "The Right Stuff." The book seemed to accuse astronaut Gordon Cooper of messing up on splashdown by opening the door of his capsule too soon.
  • Prim0
    5 years ago
    Wait wait wait.....you're loaning a dancer $100 and it's enough to cause you some overdrafts on your debit card?! Dude, I don't think you can afford to loan out money if things are that tight!

  • MackTruck
    5 years ago
    You fucked whose dog in whose doghouse in whose back yard?
  • MackTruck
    5 years ago
    I am going to dump a load in that doghouse basement so that dog runs away to a better home
  • gawker
    5 years ago
    My mention of the bank issue was illustrative of a problem. I can give lessons on various methods of wasting money on strippers. The issue described herein is actually simplified to avoid writing a book. There were actually 3 strippers involved, 2 banks, and 3 checking accounts. PayPal double charged me for a transaction and I’m in contact with them trying to rectify the problem. The bank cancelled three of the overdraft charges today after I showed them that my overdraft protection applied to two accounts.
  • Nidan111
    5 years ago
    I used it when I was a kid in the late 69s and early 70s. I used it to mean that you fucked over my trust of you.
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