Have you seen the footage Alexandra Pelosi shot while the congresspeople were in hiding during the Jan 6th insurrection? Nancy was describing how the morons were desecrating the Capitol, and she hesitated before saying they were smearing the walls with “poo poo.” I put it down to her being a grandmother.
My favorite part of that film, though, is when she says she’d like to hit Trump in the nose…and she’d happily go to jail for it.
On this side of the ocean, it’s a dog (not so much room for horses).
Many years ago, a guy originally from Texas stood up at a meeting and said he had to see a man about a dog.
We all took him literally and began discussing why he needed to see a man about a dog. It was really a strange experience.
Now you all have got me thinking whether it’s dog or horse that I use or even both. Looking it up, I see both are usual, as is “duck.” That I haven’t heard. But I have also spent much time with Brits and Irish, so it’s probably all mixed up in my vocabulary. It’s not a usual expression among the people I grew up with, but rather something I picked up in my early 20s.
I’ve always heard it (and used it) as “horse.” Besides, that way I can chuckle to myself on the way to the “Gents” with the joke in my head.
A traveling salesman bets a farmer $50 he can make the farmers horse laugh. The farmer takes the bet. The guy walks back to the horses stall and sure enough, the horse breaks out in laughter. The farmer just shook his head as the guy came back. Then the guy bets the farmer $100 he can make the horse cry. Farmer sees a chance to make back his money and agrees. A minute later the horse is bawling. As the guy folded up his winnings and prepared to depart, the farmer asks how the salesman made the horse laugh.
“I told him I had a bigger dick than he did” said the salesman.
“And when he cried?”
“I showed him.”
Yeah now that I’ve been away from the thread and back, it is “horse” most naturally for me. I also connect it with the expression “piss like a racehorse.” But “dog” wouldn’t catch notice from me. “Duck” would. Nice joke, btw.
In the UK it is very much “see a man about a dog” but for those of us of a certain vintage it may also be “shave a horse” (tm Roger’s Profanisaurus)
That’s interesting. Here in the US I’ve seen the graffito “Here I sit, broken-hearted. Paid to shit, and only farted.” Which rhymes better than the “penny” version. I’d love to know which one was first.
I’ve seen "Came to shit, and only farted.”
I’ve heard both - though never duck (that being reserved for things that growing children were knee-high to).
I am curious how that euphemism came about.
Same here, as I’m not too familiar with there being many paid toilets in the US. In fact, I can’t remember ever paying here.
Wiki:
The earliest confirmed publication is the 1866 [Dion Boucicault] in which a character knowingly breezes past a difficult situation saying, "Excuse me Mr. Quail, I can’t stop; I’ve got to see a man about a dog.
Also
“In the UK the phrase is generally used nowadays as a polite way of saying, “I (am going out / have been out), don’t ask where,” often with the cheeky implication that you are about to be, or have been, up to no good, usually indecent or illegal activities.”
I’m just pulling this out of my butt (heh), but I wonder if this represents the Dutch influence on American English. (The Dutch are the reason we eat “cookies” rather than “biscuits”.) “Poepen” is the verb for “defecate” in that language, and the University of Google suggests that it’s related to “poop”. “Poo”, on the other hand, appears to be onomatopoeic and subsequently associated with “poop”.
Just a SWAG, though.
I’m a woman and an immigrant in Britain, but I enjoy saying “I need to see a man about a dog” for the humour value. It elicits a polite chuckle in mixed company.
Among women, we usually just say “I need a wee” or “I need a pee”, to which the usual answer is “don’t fall in” or “take one for me as well”.
Something that hasn’t been mentioned yet is old women (and only them) entering an establishment like a cafe or restaurant and informing an employee “I’m bursting”, or “I’m about to burst”, which means she’s looking for the facilities. I was confused the first time it happened.
“Poep” is the noun in Dutch, hence signs like this:
I mostly find these shows (and British panel shows in general) on YouTube. They’ll usually be blocked for people in the UK, but available in the rest of the world, which tells you the copyright owners don’t mind foreigners watching.
I saw a sign in Brussels prohibiting hound poop. It made me very happy.
I believe that Dutch is where the use of the word kaka originated.
When questioned about a missing person at a gathering or co worker, I will say: “x skipped to the loo”. This sometimes leads to singing.
I don’t know about Dutch, but in German “Kacke” is the grown-up’s term meaning “crap”, while “Kacka” is the cutesy children’s term.
Interesting… I thought it might have been a Dutch thing that came out of New York, perhaps it is a German thing that came out of Pennsylvania; or a mix of both.