explains: "The phrase screw the pooch, meaning to mess up, commit a grievous error, was made famous in Tom Wolfe's book The Right Stuff. Jack Ridley: [chuckling] Exactly! I searched for "screw the pooch" in the archives and didn't get anything. It is said to have been coined by his college friend Jack May who softened “you are fucking the dog” in reference to John Rawlings procrastinating on a school project. Just be sure you don't screw the pooch… The Right Stuff. I guess so, Hot Dog. I did not find the provenance of the phrase particularly interesting. Fuck the dog dates appears in print for the first time in 1935, but in This week, we'll be running a series of bonus content from the GQ Comedy Issue right here on the Verge. _____ I don't think I need to explain why screwing the pooch is a huge mistake. I searched for "screw the pooch" in the archives and didn't get anything. Jack Ridley: Pull that stuff on flight test, it's all over for him. However, May couldn’t confirm this, since Rawlings had died in 1980. Plain and simple. Find the exact moment in a TV show, movie, or music video you want to share. It is said to have been coined by his college friend Jack May who softened “you are fucking the dog” in reference to John Rawlings procrastinating on a school project. Slate published an article on its etymology. "Bob really screwed the pooch on that assignment. If you read the wiki entry on the movie, you'll learn more. The origin of the phrase comes from an old joke "I shot the wife, and screwed the pooch." Can't get enough funny? The original expression was fuck the dog and meant to waste time, to loaf on the job. So when May saw The Right Stuff in 1983 and heard “screw the pooch,” he was convinced that his old college pal Rawlings had been the one to introduce it to the space program. But it's interesting to speculate. Heard this one in the movie "The right stuff." ‘A Reporter Said “Screw the Pooch” on Face the Nation. Not a single stat was correct" "Jen loves to screw the pooch.She has a world record high score in tetris on her office computer." Basically – when you’ve screwed the pooch, you’ve fucked up big time. Menu. Popularized by use by Tom Wolfe in The Right Stuff (1979), and film adaptation The Right Stuff (1983). Heard this one in the movie "The right stuff." instead of being the other way around. Easily move … The phrase is a euphemism from US military slang. The Right Stuff (1983) Fred Ward as Gus Grissom. I was just lying there and it just blew, said Grissom." In Reply to: Screw the pooch posted by Smokey Stover on May 16, 2010 at 18:51: : : I would like to know about the origin of the phrase 'screw the pooch.' Pooch means a dog. screw the pooch (English)Origin & history 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). It was used to mean "messed up badly" by military people. TIL the phrase "screw the pooch” popularized in "The Right Stuff" is attributed to John Rawlings, a NASA space suit designer. The same book, with its subsequent 1983 film, is thought to have popularized the phrase “screw the pooch,” meaning make a mistake. I say he screwed the pooch, partner. The expression became popular through Tom Wolfe’s book “The Right Stuff,” which described the early years of America’s space program (and was later made into a movie starring Fred …