A friend recently introduced me to the idiom "bum gouge" saying it's a common expression in the U.S. Navy and has been around for a long time. I poked around the 'net looking for an etymology, but came up dry. But I did see a variant, "football gouge". "Bum gouge" a euphemism for "bad information". Anyone have some good information on the phrase's history?
“Bum” can mean unfortunate, unprofitable, or unreliable. “Gouge” once meant a “pony” as in a cheat sheet (depending on how you define “cheat sheet”). So, perhaps “bum gouge” means a “faulty hint”; i.e., (in)direct misleading. Does that make sense?
It makes sense. Do you have a reference for the connection between pony and gouge?
I don't know why I didn't see it before, but Wikipedia attributes the origin of gouge meaning essential information to the U.S. Naval Academy. Apparently, midshipmen use gouge to refer to "outstanding test-preparation material" such as a copy of an old test. So it's natural that if bum gouge could refer to the wrong information about a test, it could easily be extended to mean bad information about anything else.
I'm still curious when the term originated, and how gouge became associated with ponies and cheat sheets. It seems like an odd connection to me. Perhaps no more so than, while someone could pony up an answer, I could ponder what a small horse has to do with gouge, bum or otherwise, and our fine, young naval officers in training.
Alas, I don't have a reference connecting both. I can, however, tell you that “bum”, according to R.A. Spears' Slang and Euphemism, is defined as
bad. The opposide of “rum,” meaning “good.”
Technically, it could be applied to anything that merits the “bad” label.
“Gouge” can also mean “to cheat.” And the beauty of this term is that it can be used either way; i.e., to cheat at something or to cheat someone. So, whether one is cheating on a Latin exam or cheating someone out of his/her money will depend on the context.