Screwed the Pooch

Posted by Joe on September 08, 2009 at 19:35

In Reply to: Screwed the Pooch posted by Tim on September 08, 2009 at 18:23:

: Screwed the Pooch - complete screwup.

: I'd like to know the origin. The lame references/explanations I've found on the web typically guess that the origin is literal - carnal relations between human and dog - but this seems a simplistic, vulgar extension by folks with a limited appreciation for history and is not very logical. In the vacuum of authoritative comment on origins, I am left to guesswork. Wouldn't it make more sense that this phrase arose in the context of a hunter who accidentally kills his dog, thereby totally fucking up - an error anyone could make, but more likely someone careless, stupid, or lazy?

Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff 1979 popularized the term attributed to a Gus Grissom incident but:
he likely got it here from his exhaustive research:

The all-American boysý - Page 93
by Walter Cunningham, Mickey Herskowitz - Technology & Engineering - 1977 - 321 pages

"OF Gene just screwed the pooch." But it had absolutely no effect on the
assignments for Apollo 17. Consistent with the past handling of such incidents,

• Screwed the Pooch ESC 08/September/09