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They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in
a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery.......if you had
to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"
If you were even deeper into poverty you did not even "have a pot to piss in."
This answer, amazingly enough, is provided in August 2009 at the time of a chain email that contains other folk lore. According to an etymology dictionary, the word piss did not come into use until the second world war. Further research may lead you to find that event comes after the dark ages of people pissing in pots.
It is interesting how the internet has the power to generate sideways thinking.
OK if that is the case how come the word is used in The Bible AND was used in 14th Century by Geoffrey Chaucer in a book. I am old enough to know PRE internet folklore and have always known about this one...
Wiki User
∙ 7y ago
The term "piss poor" is believed to originate from the early 19th century when urine was collected and sold by poor people to tanneries for use in processing leather. "Piss poor" was used to describe people who were so poor that their only source of income was selling their urine.
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Where did the saying Piss poor come from?
People who where hurting for money years ago would get their family to keep their urine and then sell it to hide tanners each week. If you had to do this you where considered "piss poor". Some people where so poor that they didn't even " have a pot to piss in "
Where did no pot to piss in come from?
During the 1500s, poor families would urinate in a pot and at the end of the day this urine would be sold at the local tannery to tan animal hides. Some families were so poor that they "didn't have a pot to piss in" thus the term. yeah what he said
What is the 5ps of operations management?
Perfect presentation prevents piss poor performance
What is the origin of the idiom 'piss-poor'?
While the Romans did indeed collect (and tax!) urine for the purpose of hide-tanning, this term's first examples in print only began after WW2. Ezra Pound used the term piss-rotten in 1940, and the first part of this hyphenated word began to be attached to a wider variety of words since then.Please see the related link(s) below:
Why do we refer urination as pee?
Pee is "short" for piss, an older term for urination.
What is the meaning of piss proud?
It is a slang term more commonly known as morning wood.
What movie does this quote come from--It is forbidden to piss into the wind?
It could be from Friends (1994).
Where did the term 'rotgut' come from?
Probably from the Finnish pontikka: raw or poor quality alcoholic liquor.
How does a female urinate?
Well, They just sit on the toilet and let the pee (piss, Urine) Come out into the toilet....
What are the examples of profit maximization?
piss off piss off
When was Piss Frond created?
Piss Frond was created in 1999.
Does the word 'piss' have the same meaning as anger?
Used with "off," it is considered a vulgar term, meaning to make someone angry.
