"Screwed the Pooch"

 

Headline of the Month

   Although I could not find a good Canadian image to illustrate our topic for today, the one above should suffice and, as well, indicate that variants of the phrase are widely used. It is an odd bit of slang, but it is found in this CBC headline on Nov. 22, 2022: 
" 'Your Guy Really Screwed the Pooch,' texts Kenney, Upset With Feds Over Coutts Blockade." The term is not really explained in the article, but it is clear that many people "screwed up" when the Emergency Act was invoked.

   Apparently pooch screwing is synonymous with blundering or making an egregious mistake, but the discriminating readers of Mulcahy's Miscellany will only be satisfied if a bit of philology is applied. Here is that bit.

   Readers of this blog likely first encountered the phrase when reading The RIght Stuff by Tom Wolfe. The rest of you probably heard it uttered in the film with that name back in the last century. More recently in this one, you may have been surprised when a CBS News correspondent  used the phrase on "Face the Nation" when discussing the Obama administration and the war in Syria. If one is travelling to outer space or navigating through the political milieu, there are lots of opportunities to "screw the pooch" and apply acronyms like SNAFU or FUBAR. 

"F****** the Dog"

  It is likely that "screwing the pooch" is a euphemism for the more vulgar "F****** the dog," which like SNAFU and FUBAR, originated in the military. The latter phrase has a different meaning and I thought of it when I first encountered a new one - "Quiet Quitting." It is likely most of us were aware of "QQ", before it was a thing, and had a colleague or two who were slacking off, being lazy, dogging it, or as we would say after work and a few drinks, "Jim was "f****** the dog" again today." 

Sources:

   The use of the less vulgar variant of the phrase is described in this article: "Review - The Week - The Word on the Street - The Pedigree of the Naughty Pooch," Ben Zimmer, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 4, 2014. Mr. Zimmer discusses the topic in more detail in a publication which allowed him to mention the more vulgar phrase: "A Reporter Said 'Screw the Pooch' on Face the Nation: Where Does That Phrase Come From?", Slate, Jan. 14, 2014. 

   Everything you need to know about the F-Word is found in the plainly titled book, The F-Word by the lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower. It is published by the Oxford University Press and a copy used to be found in the London Public Library. I suppose that someone f***** off with it. For more F information see: "Swearing & Slurring." 

The Bonus:

  In the longer article by Mr. Zimmer, this is noted: 

 "It’s not impossible, after all, for various military personnel to have independently transformed “fuck the dog” into “screw the pooch” on separate occasions. After my Wall Street Journal column was published, former Navy Lieutenant Commander Arthur P. Menard wrote in to say that he recalled “screw the pooch” being used to describe fatal crashes in 1959, when he was a midshipman aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany, and again in 1960 in flight school in Pensacola. He described it as “black humor in the Naval air arm for a very unfunny incident.”

  If the USS Oriskany rings a bell that may be because I mentioned it in my post about Senator John McCain where a review of the book, Over the Beach: The Air War in Vietnam is presented. It's easy to screw the pooch on an aircraft carrier. 

Old Beatrice & Uncle Tom

 

   It has been two weeks since I last posted and it is raining so I will attempt one now. It will be based, I think, on stories I just read in the Sunday papers. You will be relived to know that they are not "news" stories, since most such stories are rather bad these days.

  I will begin with the benign one about Beatrice. The picture above is from the North Sea off the coast of Scotland where the oil rigs, like the one on the right, are being replaced by the wind turbines on the left. There will be over 80 of them and the 50 square miles will be known as "The Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm." Her name was also on the old oil rigs. 

  You will not be surprised that I noticed the name "Beatrice", since I have written often about such names, mostly because they are being replaced. You will also know that I am not generally in favour of such replacements since the history behind them is often more interesting and illustrative than the monikers manufactured by the new toponymic totalitarians among us. 

  Although HRH Prince Charles of Wales reigned over the official opening of the "farm" in the Moray Firth, Scotland, old Beatrice is not British.  She was the wife of old T. Boone Pickens, who has his name all over the campus at Oklahoma State University. Old T. Boone was very rich and his story is more interesting than this post (see below for sources.)

  At this time I don't think anyone is suggesting that Beatrice be removed, but remember that the hummingbird "Anna" is being attacked for being named after the wife of a French naturalist. "Uncle Tom", as in "Uncle Tom's Cabin,"  is causing problems, even in Germany where "Onkel Toms Hütte" is the name of a subway station in Berlin. Blacks would be very much offended by being referred to as an "Uncle Tom" and the one pictured above objects to the station name as do many others. She is not alone and the naming authorities will probably have to re-name a Bauhaus housing development and the street, Onkel-Tom-Strasse. Just as I did not say much about T. Boone, I will say little more about the Uncle Tom controversy in Germany, since it is the type of  "news" story, of which there are already too many. If you can't figure it out, sources are provided, along with some other interesting bits.

Sources:
   For information about Beatrice see: "Giant Wind Farms Arise Off Scotland, Easing the Pain of Oil’s Decline," Stanley Reed, New York Times, Nov. 27, 2022.
   For Boone Pickens see the very interesting Wikipedia entry. The money he has given to OSU could save Laurentian U. and revitalize the entire industry of higher education in all of Canada. If you are a golf fan you will finally understand why so many of the foreign (and domestic) top PGA tour professionals ended up in Stillwater rather than, say in San Diego. 

  Information about the "Onkel Toms Hütte" controversy is found in this article, from which the illustration above was poached: "A Berlin Subway Stop is Called ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin.’ Some Black Germans Want Change," Meena Venkataramanan, The Washington Post, Nov. 27, 2022.

The Bonus:
   There is no doubt that you are still looking for something better to read on this dreary Sunday. Here is a suggestion, which allows me to plug some of my old posts. When discussing the various naming controversies, I have usually mentioned George R. Stewart. His name and book were mentioned in this article which also contains many other good book suggestions: "BY THE BOOK: Douglas Brinkley Would Like to Invite Thoreau to Dinner," New York Times, Nov. 27, 2022. Here is his answer to this question:
"What's the last great book you read?"
"During the pandemic I was transfixed by George R. Stewart’s “Earth Abides,” perhaps the most frightening doomsday thriller of all time. Most of American civilization collapses because of a strange disease, but a Berkeley ecologist is one of the rare survivors of the epidemic. Stewart wrote the book about 75 years ago, but his description of empty cities and the power of nature unleashed seem very contemporary in a world of Covid and climate change. It holds up well, and Kim Stanley Robinson wrote a fine introduction for the 2020 edition."
For more about Stewart and some of his other books see: George R. Stewart (1895 - 1980)
 My last post about geographic name changing is:  "British Columbia or Sasquatchia?" There are many more which surprises me.  

WARNING

 

YOU WERE WARNED!

  I was riled a while back when I surfed past Turner Classic Movies and was presented with a WARNING about the upcoming showing of Gone With the Wind. The good news is, I suppose, that the movie was still being aired. Apparently HBO stopped showing it until a proper Sensitivity Disclaimer was composed. 

   Similar warnings are now required for other movies, such as Breakfast at Tiffany's (!)  and My Fair Lady,(!) and Disney+ is putting them before all of episodes of The Muppet Show. Sensitive times indeed.  

Disclaimers For Dummies
  Some time has passed and I am less riled now, but I still think the profusion of such pronouncements is excessive and likely to be counterproductive. TCM is probably "Reframing" films, partly to protect itself from the newly sensitized who may start picketing. I like Ben Mankiewicz and generally enjoy the analysis and background he provides. I have also benefitted from the insights of film critics who explained what some complicated movies were all about. But, this new didacticism which re-educates us as to what is right or wrong or good or bad about a movie and needs to "contextualize" it for us and point out that attitudes about such things as race and gender and cowboys and Indians were different back in olden times, assumes that most movie viewers are cretinous. There have always been some warnings and, for example, the Motion Picture Association provided ones for guidance, but they were intended to suggest to potential viewers, whether a film was appropriate for children. 

  There are thousands of films and even entire genres of them that are now unacceptable to the new sensitivity scrutinizers. Propriety Pronouncements are probably being produced as I write so we will know what to think about a film. Perhaps instead, this simple, old generic one can be used and placed before every movie - "Viewer Discretion Advised." 

Sources:

  About the changes at TCM see, "Turner Classic Movies is Changing, and Trying to Stay the Same," David Itzkoff, New York Times, Sept, 1, 2021.

  The piece about the awful, hurtful Muppets is here: "Disney + Adds 'Negative Depictions' Disclaimer to Multiple Episodes of The Muppet Show", Rosy Cordero, Entertainment, Feb. 21, 2021.

Post Script:

  It didn't take long for the conservative folks and Fox News to make fun of all this as the images above indicate.

The Bonus: Someone just paid $25,000 for the book - Gone With the WInd - I hope they know about it. 

On Bullying

 

Bullish About Bullying

  I associate the word "bullying" with schoolyards, beaches and childhood, but now the word is everywhere and even hordes of adults are affected by it.  I was going to do a post on the subject, but am giving up. There is so much baloney about bullying, I feel too intimidated (bullied) to tackle it. What I will do is simply prove to you that the word is overused by rounding up some recent articles about it and displaying them. I will then offer my usual contrarian bit. But, given that many, many people are worried about bullying, I also will offer sources to soothe them, with the hopes that they won't bully me for being so insensitive about a topic that is terrifying.

Recent Headlines (All are real and recent.)

Sunak Facing Calls to Sack Gavin Williamson Over Bullying Allegations

Strike Shows Ford's School Bully Strategy

The Cancel Culture is an Extension of Bullying, says Shruti [India]

Abusive Bullying’ of Fish Hoek High School Students Condemned [South Africa]

Bullying of Blacks Takes a Toll on Mental Health

Racist Bullying Shook a Small US Town. Then Came the Bomb Threats

Hazing, Harassment, Bullying Allegations Leveled Against Hockey Organization Okanagan HC

Nearly 30 per cent of Hospital BME Staff Suffer Harassment, Bullying or Abuse

An Outraged Mother Enters the Classroom to Defend Her Son From Bullying: She Asks Her Son Who was Bullying Him and Beats Up His Classmate.

Head Banned From Classroom for Allowing Her ‘Rude and Controlling’ Teacher Husband to Bully Staff in Same School

Make Forces Chiefs Liable for Bullying

Asda Accused of ‘Bullying Workers’ Who Speak Out Over Pay Dispute by Unions

Government Launches Campaign to Identify Warning Signs Against Bullying [Latin America]

Homeless Man Accuses Byron Bay Council Workers of 'Bullying' After They Slap Him With $600 Fine for Filling His Water Tank up in a 'No Stopping' Bay

Recent Article Titles From the Harvard Business Review

[This was when I realized the subject was a serious one and decided to abandon it.]

How Bullying Manifests at Work — and How to Stop It

Workplace Bullying Taxonomy

Bullying Is a Confidence Game

Diagnose and Eliminate Workplace Bullying

Eating Their Cake And Everyone Else's Cake, Too: Resources As The Main Ingredient To Stop Workplace Bullying

Gordon Brown's Leadership, Passionate or Bullying?

The Contrarian Part

   I guess I shouldn't be surprised given that now people have to be warned in advance of reading anything that may be harmful and even "violent", and that students living in the safest enclaves (campuses) on the continent need spaces within them that are even safer. Perhaps people used to be tougher and when they were bullied, somehow got over it.

  As proof I offer this passage. It describes the childhood experience of an American boy who found himself in Saskatchewan in the early part the last century and it includes and anti-American ditty that those of you who are anti-American will appreciate. 

"The first year in Eastend was a chaos of experiences, good and bad. I caught lice from the half-Indian kids I played with and was fiercely shampooed with kerosene. I learned dirty words and dirty songs from the children of railroad construction workers and from Z-X cowpunchers. With other boys, I was induced to ride calves and lured into “shit fights” with wet cow manure in the Z-X corrals. Then or later I learned to dog-paddle, first in the irrigation ditch, later in the river, and I fished for suckers in the deep holes of the bends, and followed trails through willows that felt like authentic wilderness. Then or later we put .22 cartridges or blasting caps on the tracks ahead of approaching handcars or speeders, and once we got satisfactorily chased by the gandy dancers of the section crew. Around Christmas we all watched the first soldiers go off to the war, and then and afterward we had trouble with the Canadian kids who said the United States was too yellow to get into the fight. They had a song for us:

Here’s to the American eagle

He flies over mountain and ditch

But, we don’t want the turd of your goddam bird

You American son of a bitch.

   My brother, who was big for his age, and tough, fought every kid his size, and some bigger, in defense of America’s honor. But we were ashamed, and we got an instructive taste of how it felt to be disliked for tribal affiliations that we hadn’t really known we had.”

From: “Finding the Place: A Migrant Childhood,” in Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs; Living and Writing in the West, Wallace Stegner.

The Anti-Bullying Business

   A good career can be found in the industry that has developed to help you fight off all the bullies. There is an Anti-Bullying Day  and next week is Anti- Bullying Week in England and even Wales (where I did think people were tougher.) For help in Canada see Bullying Canada and even in Saskatchewan (where they used to be tougher.)

Post Script:

  Loyal readers will know that I did to a post about Headlines, some of which were spurious, but the ones above are real. Given that I abandoned this subject, I didn't want to spend more time providing the entire source. 

Celebrities!!!

Celebrity Cameos 

  It is snowing today and I am back at the blogworks. Thinking about a subject to approach I came up with CELEBRITIES because the citizenry seems to be obsessed with them and I need to divert some attention to this blog. I figure I can get some if I offer those who are star-obsessed a way to make a connection with their idols. 

  I vaguely recalled that there are now services that provide connections, such as, for example, getting Kyrie Irving or Kanye West to send you a tweet (unless you are Jewish.) Touching and personalized emails also will be sent if you know who to pay. 

 You can even get a personal video from the most aloof of celebrities, while your friends have to rely on those provided by the paparazzi. There are also ways to get them from the more elusive and rarer Canadian celebrities. For example, Mr. Roach above is a star in the show Trailer Park Boys and for $265 you will get a video directly from him. One from Wendel Clark is only $156 and these are Canadian dollars not the real ones. As the related website says, "Capture The Wow!"

Post Cards From Authors

   More suited for the readers of Mulcahy's Miscellany are the handwritten notes you will receive from the authors you cherish, once I show you where to look. I am not sure how many Canadian writers participate, but that is Claire Messud above. While perhaps not strictly Canadian, she spent time here and her mother is.

  Right now Claire will write to you for $75 (US), but there is a catch. Notes such as hers are part of an auction and her price may rise before the November 30, deadline. At this time, David Sedaris will write something funny for $400 while a more serious note will come from Donna Tart for $550.

  Now that I have warmed up, I will move to more serious subjects. Before I do, here is the information you need and I am sure there is more to be found.

Sources:

  For the crass, go directly to CAMEO - Celebrity Video Messages. 

  Those of you who are more refined should have a look at,  The Common's Author Postcard Auction. Do so soon. The site is worth visiting for the pictures of the authors. The funds raised are used to support the publishing efforts of writers from various backgrounds. The Common is located at Amherst College and The Common is also a literary periodical, the kind of "little magazine" I have often mentioned in my "Periodical Ramblings See, for example, The Sewanee Review. 

Sports News From Elsewhere

    I recently offered you "News From Elsewhere" which gathered stories you may have missed. Now you are presented with sport stats unrelated to the ones you watched this weekend. These activities are more exotic (with the exception of soccer) than the baseball, football and hockey you watched, and the stuff about soccer will at least give you something to talk about when the World Cup starts. As well, learning about these sports will prepare you for the TV future, when the major sports you used to watch have disappeared from the major networks. 

Formula 1

 "Last year’s Mexican Grand Prix attracted three hundred and seventy thousand spectators. The Singapore race runs through the city at night. (Drivers can shed six pounds in stress and sweat.) The average television audience for a Formula I race is around seventy million people – four times that of the typical N.F.L. game – and the best drivers earn around soccer star-salaries and lasting fame. When Ayrton Senna, a three-time world champion was killed in a race, in 1994, the Brazilian government declared three days of mourning. A million people waited in the heat to pay their respects, and many spoke of their saudade – an inexpressible state of longing for  something that is gone."

The above is from this very interesting article: “The Sporting Scene: In Reverse: Driving to Survive at the Top of Formula 1.” Sam Knight, The New Yorker, Oct. 31, 2022.

Cricket

These data are from this piece: “American Money Has Discovered Indian Cricket: Billion-dollar investment funds and N.F.L. ownership groups are among those angling for a foothold in the Indian Premier League. The returns, not the sport, are the draw,” Mike Jakeman, New York Times, Nov. 1, 2022.

“When we first started looking at cricket, we were by no means experts,” Scheiner said. “But the more we studied it, the more we realized it felt like the N.F.L. did 20 years ago.”

That was why, in June 2021, RedBird bought a 15 percent stake in Rajasthan Royals, a team that competes in the Indian Premier League, for $37.5 million. The money that has poured into the league over the past 15 months suggests that RedBird got a bargain.

Four months after that deal closed, an I.P.L. expansion team sold for $940 million. Eight months after that, the league negotiated new television and digital broadcasting rights agreements worth $6.2 billion.

At more than $1 billion a year, that means India’s top cricket competition — a closed league with only 10 teams — now generates annual broadcast revenues on par with top leagues like the N.F.L. ($10 billion a year), England’s Premier League (about $6.9 billion) and the N.B.A. ($2.7 billion).

On a per-match basis, in fact, the I.P.L., whose season lasts only two months, now ranks behind only the N.F.L....

And suddenly a lot of people want in."

The World Cup 2022

"Qatar, the smallest country to ever host the World Cup, has poured more than $220 billion into preparations for the event, erecting miles of highways, a metro system, a new airport, stadiums and high-rises.

Dire working conditions for migrant laborers in Qatar came under fire after scores of them died on World Cup-related construction sites....

The country has produced eight new stadiums with soccer pitches covered in grass flown in from the United States and outdoor air conditioning systems that can lower the temperature by more than 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius). Last month, Qatari officials announced the addition of 30,000 rooms to meet the surge in demand for accommodation, including some on cruise ships and traditional wooden boats known as dhows….

An estimated 1.5 million international visitors — around half of Qatar’s total population — will pour into the country over the month long event, which is typically hosted across multiple, major cities. Qatar is about the size of Connecticut.

Housekeepers in one ritzy hotel in West Bay, one of Doha’s upscale neighborhoods, will be tasked with cleaning 80 rooms a day — up from the usual 20, they say. When asked if he thought the newly minted metro could handle thousands of drunk fans, the station agent at a stop in the neighborhood smiled, shook his head and muttered “no way” between exaggerated coughs.

They have announced entertainment, including beach clubs, carnivals, futuristic light shows and two month long music festivals. One involves D.J.s performing on a 50-foot-tall, flame-flowing mechanical spider borrowed from the Glastonbury Festival in England and reminiscent of a futuristic alien tank from the video game Halo."

The above is from: "The World Cup Is Weeks Away. Will Qatar Be Ready?

As sports fans prepare to flood the tiny Gulf nation, cranes and loaders are still running hard — as is criticism of Qatar’s human rights record and exploitation of workers,"  Christina Goldbaum, New York Times,  Nov. 4, 2022

The Bonus:

   What does F1 mean? Here is the answer: "The “formula” of Formula 1 refers to a set of rules, first enshrined after the Second World War, to bring some order to the urge to race dangerous cars on the asphalt of foreign cities". 

  Qatar may not be a welcoming place for some. From my earlier post about the Olympics in Rio, I learned this: "Qatar: Sharia law in Qatar applies only to Muslims, who can be put to death for extramarital sex, regardless of sexual orientation." For attitudes about such things in other countries see: "Rainbow Flags and Olympic Ones." 

   While covering sports for you, I ran across another example of an aptronym from the wonderful world of boxing.

The headline: "Former Heavyweight Boxer Charged With Trafficking $1 Billion of Cocaine," New York Times, Nov. 2, 2022.

Spot the aptronym:

"Goran Gogic helped move vast amounts of cocaine from Colombia to Europe using U.S. ports, prosecutors said. One haul was among the largest cocaine seizures in U.S. history, they said.

Lawrence A. Hashish, a lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who said he represented Mr. Gogic, said that the charges “came as a surprise.” Mr. Hashish said his client had traveled for a boxing convention in Puerto Rico and that there hadn’t been an outstanding arrest warrant before his arrival in the United States."

Sources: 

  They have been provided above, but if  you don’t know what a GOOGLY or LOLLY is, or the difference between a JAFFA and a PERHAPSER, see: “15 Corker Cricket Terms, Deciphered," Angela Tung, mentalfloss.com, May, 5, 2016.

  If you have forgotten what "aptronyms" are see: "Aptronyms" 

Very Expensive Used Books

 

  In early October AbeBooks released its list of "Most Expensive Sales From July to September, 2022." Third on the list was Gone With the Wind. Here is their notice:

Gone with the Wind,  by Margaret Mitchell - $25,000
A first edition, first printing of Margaret Mitchell’s landmark novel about the American South during the American Civil War and its aftermath. The book is signed by the author on the front free endpaper. Gone With the Wind was published in May 1936 by Macmillan and this copy still has its original dust jacket. An immediate bestseller, a movie adaption of the novel followed in 1939. Mitchell won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937 thanks to this book.

  If you search on AbeBooks for another copy of Gone With the Wind, you will find that there are still many expensive ones available.

 

   The poor author does not benefit from any of this. She was struck by a drunk driver and killed in 1949. For a full accounting of this accident see my: "Martha Mitchell (1900 - 1949.)

   Although printed books have been devalued by many, others are willing to pay a lot for them. 

   Recently both Turner Classic Movies and HBO Max issued warnings for viewers about the content of the film version of Gone With the Wind. It doesn't look like booksellers are providing such alerts, but perhaps readers don't require them. 

The Bonus:

   Even business books can be very expensive. See: "Valuable Business Books."