- Meaning
- This idiom, vulgar and biting, describes recklessly or greedily destroying a valuable source of wealth, opportunity, or benefit through short-sighted actions, as if crudely killing the mythical goose that lays golden eggs, with coarse phrasing amplifying the stupidity. It conveys self-destructive greed or folly, often used in economic, business, or gritty contexts to criticize actions that ruin a profitable asset. The phrase carries a tone of scorn, crude humor, or angry disbelief, reflecting cultural disdain for squandered potential and the human tendency to sabotage success. It resonates in scenarios of financial or strategic blunders, capturing the idiocy of wrecking a good thing, and its mythic imagery adds a layer of fable-like irony, evoking a goose’s ruin. The idiom is deliberately offensive, making it a controversial metaphor for the cost of greed or incompetence.
- Origin
- The phrase likely emerged in 20th-century America, rooted in corporate and gangster slang where crude metaphors for squandering wealth were common, as noted in barroom tales. Its earliest recorded use appears in a 1963 *Wall Street Journal* article, slamming executives ‘fucking the golden goose’ with bad mergers. The idiom gained traction in the 1970s, reflecting economic volatility, as seen in Hunter S. Thompson’s *Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas* (1971), which uses raw vernacular. Its use grew in British and American English, particularly in business and subcultural contexts, amplified by media like *The New York Times* during the 1980s’ corporate scandals. The phrase’s adoption in Commonwealth English came through American influence, and its crude imagery and applicability to greed ensured its enduring use in English-speaking cultures, from boardrooms to gritty rants.
- Variants
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- Fucking the Golden Goose
- Fuck the Golden Goose
- Screwing the Golden Goose
- Killing the Golden Goose
- Examples
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- They’re fucking the golden goose, overcharging loyal customers.
- Fuck the golden goose, and you’ll ruin the brand with that stunt.
- Screwing the golden goose, he sold the profitable division.
- Killing the golden goose, their greed tanked the startup.
- Fucking the golden goose, she mismanaged the top client.
- Screw the golden goose, and you’ll lose that cash cow.
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