Piss Pots and Airs

I have always been curious as to the origination of the phrases we southerners use. I may be regionally profiling here but I can't really picture a New Yorker saying something like "He's as tight as bark on a tree" or "You can't get rid of 'em. He's like a booger you can't thump off."

One phrase I have heard my whole life is "pot to piss in". These words usually follow "So and So doesn't have a ...".

If you are like me and love a good etymology story here you go...

"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".

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" & were the lowest of the low. "

Of course, today there are those who don't have the proverbial pot but, nonetheless, like to "put on airs" (another frequently used euphemism). If only they could be called on the carpet for it (and yet another one)

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