Etymology Journal ยท H
Haven't got a pot to piss in
Meaning
- A colorful and vulgar way to describe someone who is dirt poor. It implies a total lack of resources, even the most basic and crude ones.
Crude, blunt, rural
Used in a sentence
- That family is so broke they haven't got a pot to piss in.
- He gambled all his money away and now he hasn't got a pot to piss in.
- I used to be so poor I hadn't got a pot to piss in.
The backstory
The phrase is quite old, referencing the days before indoor plumbing when a chamber pot was a household essential. If you lacked even a pot, you truly had nothing.
Heard in
The South, Midwest
Vibe check