Put the scuppers on

Posted by Victoria S Dennis November 20, 2009 at 18:15In reply to Put the scuppers on posted by Jack on November 20, 2009 at 08:49:

ound in the Guardian Online 20091120 "The lost Art of telling a joke"

"But the rise of alternative comedy in the 1980s helped put the scuppers on joke parroting" What are the origin and meaning of the expression "put the scuppers on"?

Same article "...my dad had a ready arsenal of stinkers he'd trot out when conversation dipped". I've never heard the word "stinkers" being used that way. Is it rhyming slang? Thanks.

The first sounds like a confusion between "to put the mockers on" (for which see www.phrases.org.uk meanings put-the-mockers-on.html) and "to scupper", meaning "to thwart or destroy".

"Stinkers" isn't rhyming slang: a "stinker" is just something that stinks, thus by extension something of poor quality, a clunker. (VSD)