# Origin of "pissed off" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173 "2003-12-05T16:33:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KnK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/edb3f5/32.png) [@KnK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KnK)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/1 "2003-12-05T16:33:26Z")
What is the origin of “pissed off”, to mean being mad, angry, etc.? KnK ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/2 "2003-12-05T18:18:38Z")
I don’t know but I’d much rather be pissed off than pissed on. 😃 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sqwerticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@Sqwerticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sqwerticus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/3 "2003-12-05T19:33:14Z")
Here in the UK, to be pissed off is to be fed up or annoyed, and to be pissed is to be drunk. In either case, **hlanelee** is entirely correct. 😃 In fact, the word piss and its variant forms are a very flexible part of the language around here…deftly demonstrated by **owlstretchingtime** in this in this finely crafted excerpt from [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=221919&highlight=piece+AND+of+AND+piss) about swearing. > [@](#): > > A couple of hours to go until I piss off to go on the piss until I’m pissed. Until then I’ll piss about doing piss-all. It’s a piece of piss, i’ll piss it. As you can see, to piss off can also mean to depart - either describing ones own departure, or as an instruction for another to depart. It’s a shame he didn’t squeeze in a reference to it pissing down (with rain). Not that any of this actually answers your question, but an interesting little aside, I think.😛 ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/4 "2003-12-05T20:11:33Z")
And the best place for a pisspot to go on the piss until he’s pissed is at a piss-up. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/5 "2003-12-05T22:46:02Z")
Oh c’mon. You guys are just taking the piss. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/6 "2003-12-05T23:11:17Z")
Another potentially informative thread pissed up against the wall. And I think **Sqwerticus** is trying to piss in owlstretchingtime’s pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Sqwerticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@Sqwerticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sqwerticus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/7 "2003-12-06T00:01:07Z")
Now I am pissed off. Hey, what do you reckon the origin of that phrase ‘pissed off’ might be? Sensible answers only from now on.😛 There now. That’s the wall thats been pissed up against sorted out. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/8 "2003-12-06T00:36:20Z")
So, can we safely say this has degenerated into a pissing contest? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/9 "2003-12-06T01:37:44Z")
C’mon you blokes, this humour is as weak as piss. It really is piss-poor. ---
**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:** [December 6, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/10 "2003-12-06T02:02:07Z")
Well, isn’t that just a pisser. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/11 "2003-12-06T02:03:22Z")
And you’re being a bit pissy about it, Loaded. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/12 "2003-12-06T02:06:16Z")
We can safely say that GQ is awash in people who don’t know shit from shinola. [Random House’s](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19991104) excellent word site, _Mavens’ Word of the Day_ which is now defunct, can quite often lend a hand, which they do it this case. According to them, it appears in and about WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Sqwerticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@Sqwerticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sqwerticus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/13 "2003-12-06T02:35:08Z")
Awwww. Now \*\*samclem[\b] has pissed on our firework. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-pissed-off/217173/14 "2003-12-06T02:41:52Z")
Life is like a pubic hair on a toilet seat. Sooner or later…