"Screw[ed] it," vs "screw[ed] it up," vs "screw[ed] up."
How do the three phrases differ? For example:
Speaker A: Hey, I called to tell you about my audition.
Speaker B: "Don't tell me you screwed it."
Speaker B: "Don't tell me you screwed it up."
Speaker B: "Don't tell me you screwed up."
I found the three instances in Google Books:
Who the hell you think you are? You screwed it.
You had a nice cushy job with the Agency. You screwed it up.
I bet if you tell us what you screwed up, we could tell you how to fix it.
With you screwed up occurring more often (79,400 results).
What's the difference between the three. Which, for instance, would fit my example the best?
to screw up is to err, to make a mistake, often a big one.
OK. You have your assignment. You occupy the bank manager while I slip unnoticed into the vault. Don't screw up.
to screw something up is to cause something to stop working as it should, or to stop progressing as one would wish it to progress
I really screwed up my computer when I rebooted before Windows Update had completed.
I really screwed things up with my girlfriend; she saw me kissing her best friend.
I'm not familiar with the expression "to screw something" (to screw it), but the figurative meaning of "to screw someone" means to do them an ill turn, to make things very difficult for them, to harm their prospects, such as in
Joe's boss really screwed him by taking credit for landing that big account, when it was Joe who did all of the work. His boss got a big bonus and Joe got diddly.
Check this for different usages of screw up. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/screw+up
Also, there are other variations of screw that seems to be worth checking out.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/screw?q=screw+