Rat's ass

Posted by James Briggs on January 11, 2001

In Reply to: Rat's ass posted by Greg Henkel on January 11, 2001

: Does anyone know the orgin of the saying: "I don't give a rat's ass." I hope this does not offend anyone. Thank you, Greg Henkel - USA

This is very likely to be one of many 'I don't give a...' variants. Animals get used for all sorts of things. Here, in the UK, it used to be 'as sick as a dog'. That's now out of date and the current phrase is 'sick as a parrot' - without, I may add, any evidence whatsoever that parrots are particularly sick. It's all 'Fashion'.