A bit on English Etymology

"Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time..."

Where did "Piss Poor" come from? Interesting History...

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot. And then once a day it was taken and sold to the tannery... if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor".

But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot...
They "didn't have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." (Just a thought: as compared with more recent ' filthy rich'?) The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing.

As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.
Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old”.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." (Just a thought: as compared with 'breadwinner'?) They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat...


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