screw the pooch
1950s, from earlier fuck the dog ("fritter, waste time") (1935) (compare fuck around), later sense of “make an embarrassing mistake” (compare screw up, fuck up).
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1950s, from earlier fuck the dog ("fritter, waste time") (1935) (compare fuck around), later sense of “make an embarrassing mistake” (compare screw up, fuck up).
The term was first documented in the early "Mercury" days of the US space program. It came there from a Yale graduate named John Rawlings who helped design the astronauts' space suits.
The term, however, did not enter the popular lexicon until Tom Wolfe used it in his book about the space program, The Right Stuff, where it was used to describe a supposed mistake by astronaut Gus Grissom.
The phrase's origins come from an old joke.
screw the pooch
- (idiomatic) To screw up; to fail in dramatic and ignominious fashion.
- French: tout foutre en l'air
- Russian: облажа́ться
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