Have you ever heard this expression. I’ve heard lots of people use this phrase when excusing themselves to take care of their, uh, private . . . things, I guess. But, how did it originate? I heard it in a movie that was made in the 50’s but I would assume it’s been around much longer than that. What gives?
No C&P
I’m guessint that it’s a perversion of the line “I’ve gotta see a man about a horse.”
The only time I’ve heard it used was in my teen years, when I could get into bars, in CA, without being ID’d. As I don’t go to bars anymore I haven’t heard the phrase in decades.
It may be a cloaked form of the phrase “I’ve gotta piss like a race horse,” to account for more genteel or polite company in the immediate vicinity of the speaker.
But then again…
–Kalél
TheHungerSite.com
“If our lives are indeed the sum-total of the choices we’ve made, then we cannot change who we are; but with every new choice we’re given, we can change who we’re going to be.”
I have always understood that the phrase referred obliquely to the Mark Twain story in which the protagonist sells somebody else’s dog to a stranger. Yet, I’ve always understood it to mean, “I’ve got to take a piss.”
My personal favourite expression (from my bachelor days) was, “Well guys, I’m gonna go shake hands with the unemployed.” 
-LabRat
A lovely little thinker but a bugger when he’s pissed.
You’re aware that that phrase does not refer to urination, right?
I usually say, “I have an appointment in Cleveland.”
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
I’ve not only heard it, I use it. I’ve always preferred this variant to “See a man about a horse,” perhaps because it seems less rustic.
Tom Waits uses the phrase in the closing comments on his 1975 live album NIGHTHAWKS AT THE DINER. Which is also a source of several other colorful remarks, including “I’m so horny the crack 'a dawn better be careful around me” and “Save the coupon…gotta think in terms of that patio furniture.”
Uke
Blind date to me: “I gotta go take a piss.”
Me: “I’ll bet you really have to go make a phone call but you’re too embarrassed to say so, right?”
Well, it seems plausible. And, like other phrases which were changed over time(“the maddening crowd” from “the madding crowd”)it would seem that time and changes in culture would change the language of our culture. But to be more precise, when did it begin? I even heard Sally on The Dick Van Dyke Show use this expression on one of their episodes. And, if it was a blatant referral to urinating, wouldn’t the high-morals censors have prevented it? Especially if the phrase was well known?
This question sounds familiar…
see a man about a horse
Thank you for the link, Gilligan.
I notice that Carl Berry’s question about the provenance of “He went to take a sh*t and the hogs ate him” as a response to “Has anyone seen X?” was roundly ignored.
I’m a little curious about this one myself. Any theories?
Uke