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Put the scuppers on

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on November 20, 2009 at 18:15

In Reply to: Put the scuppers on posted by Jack on November 20, 2009 at 08:49:

: ound in the Guardian Online 20091120 "The lost Art of telling a joke"

: "But the rise of alternative comedy in the 1980s helped put the scuppers on joke parroting" What are the origin and meaning of the expression "put the scuppers on"?

: Same article "...my dad had a ready arsenal of stinkers he'd trot out when conversation dipped". I've never heard the word "stinkers" being used that way. Is it rhyming slang? Thanks.

The first sounds like a confusion between "to put the mockers on" (for which see www.phrases.org.uk meanings put-the-mockers-on.html) and "to scupper", meaning "to thwart or destroy".

"Stinkers" isn't rhyming slang: a "stinker" is just something that stinks, thus by extension something of poor quality, a clunker. (VSD)

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