Pissed as a rat

Posted by David FG on June 05, 2010 at 21:29

In Reply to: Pissed as a rat posted by Smokey Stover on June 05, 2010 at 19:28:

: : Where does the phrase 'pissed as a rat' come from?

: It appears to come from that impulse in speakers of the vernacular to make every modifier a part of a simile, and to use some vulgarism as a code for the modifier itself. Pissed, in Britain, means drunk. (In the U.S. it is most often a shortening of "pissed off," meaning mad as hell.) You might say "drunk as a skunk," and some Brits have been known to say "pissed as a newt," or even "pissed as a rat." But since neither newts nor rats are often seen drunk, the simile seems rather strained. I wouldn't expect to see this phrase in print before the 1990s. (I don't remember where I got that date.)

: SS

To add to the vulgarity, a common (probably in every sense) usage in the British Isles is 'pissed as a fart' which also makes no sense at all.

DFG

• Pissed as a rat Victoria S Dennis 06/June/10