Comments on: Where does term "pissed off" come from?

Question: Where does term "pissed off" come from?

zackdog — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 22:07:40 -0800

Where does the term "pissed off" come from? Doesn't seem to be related to being angry. You are more likely to piss your pants when you are scared.

By: acoutu

acoutu — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 22:10:22 -0800

Some ideas here.

By: Lucie

Lucie — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 22:41:55 -0800

I don't know if this is true, but I've wondered if there is some correlation between 'pissed off' and 'piss'=alcohol, given the increased likelihood of people getting angry when drunk.

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 23:08:12 -0800

In the UK, "pissed" is slang for being drunk. But that's not a standard usage in the US, so unless that derivation appeared first and then migrated to the US, it doesn't seem likely that they're related.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 23:11:59 -0800

From here:

We can be sure that the angry meaning of pissed off became popular among the Armed Forces in World War II, and entered into mainstream use during the post-war years. In 1946 it was defined as a new word in American Speech XXI: "This means roughly, fed-up, irritated, depressed." Some linguists and historians think the expression must have been well known during the war years, citing a story about General Eisenhower's dog. The story goes that the dog (Felix) urinated on a map and the officers joked that the enemy was "pissed off." (Leonard Mosely, Marshall, 1982).

Good story even if it's not true.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 23:14:51 -0800

Oops! What acoutu said.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 03:59:30 -0800

I've heard it explained but I can only vaguely recall the (very interesting) explanation. It related to the shipment of cargos of urine via boat for use in dying fabrics and gunpowder production. This must have been hundreds of years ago. Crews who had been assigned shipments of urine rather than more conventional wares were said to be "pissed off." Obviously the reaction to this unsavoury task gave meaning to the term. Can't find any reference to this online, but I recall hearing it on Radio 4 a few years ago.

By: beagle

beagle — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 05:47:31 -0800

Isn't it possible this derives from the older (1916) U.K. "ticked off", applied to children and subordinates, meaning "chastised or told off" (and derived from the action of ticking off, or checking off, items or persons on a list). In U. S., the meaning of ticked off has migrated to mean the same as pissed off, probably by substituting ticked as a euphemism for pissed. So the route would be -- old OK usage "ticked off"/told off, gets picked up in wartime by US troops in contact with Brits, vulgarized to "pissed off", and modified a bit in meaning -- the party who is "ticked off"/told off, is, naturally, annoyed/irritated or "pissed off". Finally the older UK "ticked" is substituted back for "pissed" (note 1959 OED citation in first link) by folks wishing to keep their language clean.

Further back, "ticked off" may also have linkage with "tickled" meaning "irritated, used by Shakespeare and Pepys, discussed here.

By: JJ86

JJ86 — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 06:02:35 -0800

I remember learning it from watching Monty Python back in the 70's.

By: qvantamon

qvantamon — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 06:12:42 -0800

In a very related diggression...

In Portuguese we have a word (usual in some locations, unusual in others) for angry that's "Enfezado". I discovered recently that it's etymology comes from "full of feces", alluding to the fact that constipated people tend to be in a bad mood.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 06:21:39 -0800

Just want to emphasize that all that can currently be said about the expression is contained in acoutu's link (first comment). There's really not much point trying to invent explanations (and that "cargos of urine" one is really ridiculous). The origins of many, perhaps most, slang expressions are irretrievably lost in the mists of time. All that can be said is that wherever it came from, it had a good ring to it and people immediately took to it and started using it.

N.b.: Language is not logical.

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 06:39:35 -0800

Better to be pissed off than pissed on.

By: KirkJobSluder

KirkJobSluder — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 07:26:25 -0800

I suspect a related slang phrase is "full of piss and vinegar."

By: syzygy

syzygy — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 07:33:57 -0800

The German slang for "pissed off" is angepisst, which, literally, is closer to "pissed on" than it is to "pissed off".

By: syzygy

syzygy — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 07:36:10 -0800

Also, don't forget the British usage of "piss off". It's a command, meaning something similar to the USian "fuck off" or the German "verpiss dich".

By: pointilist

pointilist — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 07:55:16 -0800

When I went to college in Indiana from NY I was surprised to discover that a "pisser" was not a good thing to seemingly anywhere else in the country. This was 1972. I was sad because pissing is such a satisfying experience overall and it seemed an appropriate application of the term.
/derail

By: Rash

Rash — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 10:55:46 -0800

fire&wings, why in the world would a boatload of urine cargo be shipped anywhere? Not like it's a rare commodity. I'd suggest the reason you can't find any online reference is that this program was some Radio 4 comedy/satire.

By: baylink

baylink — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 15:33:49 -0800

l-hat: I don't think all of those legends were being 'invented', so much as relayed...

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:13:54 -0800

Rash - urine was shipped everywhere, that much is fact. The exact nature of how the term came to be is a different matter.