# "I have to pee so bad my back teeth are swimming" - what does that mean, exactly? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342 "2012-08-03T20:56:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/1 "2012-08-03T20:56:42Z")
The piss has backed up into the mouth, and the molars are doing a backstroke in it? Or is it supposed to describe some kind of sensation one feels in their back teeth when they have piss really bad? Or what? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/2 "2012-08-03T21:02:20Z")
Pretty sure it’s the former. I’d never heard the expression before when I read it in a French slang book as _j’ai les dents du fond qui baignent_, and for a while didn’t know it was used in English too. Wonder where it originated. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/3 "2012-08-03T21:06:21Z")
And in French I think it’s used to mean “I’ve had a lot/too much to drink” rather than literally “I have to pee,” although one problem often accompanies the other… ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/4 "2012-08-03T21:31:58Z")
I’ve definitely felt my teeth itch when I had to pee. I don’t know how else to describe it. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/5 "2012-08-03T21:33:56Z")
I’ve heard it as “my teeth are floating” and usually understood it to mean one had drunk so much liquid it had backed up. Figuratively, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/6 "2012-08-03T21:35:41Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I’ve heard it as “my teeth are floating” and usually understood it to mean one had drunk so much liquid it had backed up. Figuratively, anyway. I’ve always thought that’s what it meant. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/7 "2012-08-03T21:36:49Z")
That’s what I’ve always thought it meant also. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/8 "2012-08-03T21:44:26Z")
I’ve assumed that it is more figurative than not, but I also get a sensation in my teeth/jaw sometimes when I have to go or start to go. It’s probably related to the infamous piss-shiver issue that has received so much research here at the SD. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/9 "2012-08-03T23:02:56Z")
It means you’ve turned into a giant bladder. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/10 "2012-08-04T01:54:57Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Pretty sure it’s the former. > > I’d never heard the expression before when I read it in a French slang book as _j’ai les dents du fond qui baignent_, and for a while didn’t know it was used in English too. Wonder where it originated. My German mother learned French and English in school and used this phrase frequently, maybe she picked this up in school or when we lived in France. Thanks for the information! She always used it to mean she had to pee so bad she was filled up to the back molars. As a child, I always got a mental picture of a hollow person filled with pee! ---
**Author:** ![Oukile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@Oukile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oukile)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/11 "2012-08-04T02:10:30Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > And in French I think it’s used to mean “I’ve had a lot/too much to drink” rather than literally “I have to pee,” although one problem often accompanies the other… French here. Yes, it means “I’ve had a lot/too much to drink”. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/12 "2012-08-04T02:29:32Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Pretty sure it’s the former. > > I’d never heard the expression before when I read it in a French slang book as _j’ai les dents du fond qui baignent_, and for a while didn’t know it was used in English too. Wonder where it originated. Another vivid French-language expression I’ve heard for the same thing is _j’ai les yeux jaunes_, “my eyes are yellow.” ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Tilt\_Boogie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2acd7d/32.png) [@Full\_Tilt\_Boogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Tilt_Boogie)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/13 "2012-08-04T02:39:26Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > The piss has backed up into the mouth, and the molars are doing a backstroke in it? This ^^^^ > [@](#): > > Or is it supposed to describe some kind of sensation one feels in their back teeth when they have piss really bad? > > Or what? And _not_ this ^^^^ ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-to-pee-so-bad-my-back-teeth-are-swimming-what-does-that-mean-exactly/630342/14 "2012-09-10T13:16:48Z")
I believe, “My back teeth are floating” is the more commonly used phrase. As Cheech put it “Get me outta here man! I gotta go! My back teeth are floating, man.” - \*Up in Smoke (1978) \*