Hello Everyone,
When I was younger, 1970’s-1980’s, men had to say "I have to piss like a race horse or sometimes a “Russian racehorse”. Now, we have horses and when they pee, it’s a river of piss, so I get that. But why a racehorse and not just a horse?
One possibility is because it’s common to give racehorses Furosemide on race day. Ostensibly this is done because it helps prevent exercise-induced pulmonary bleeding, but it’s also a powerful diuretic and allows a horse to pee off 10+ lbs of its body weight right before the race.
The practice became widespread in the early 1970’s which is also when the first uses of the phrase seem to start popping up in a google book search.
^Excellent! I was going to guess something along those lines.
Also, it simply has a nice ring to it. Sometimes things just sound better a certain way.
As a teenager I had a friend who would announce his urgent need to “Shit like a gorilla.”
Discuss.
One possibility is because it’s common to give gorillas Ex-Lax on busy zoo days. Ostensibly this is done because it helps prevent boredom-induced brain bleeding, but it’s also a powerful laxative and allows a gorilla to s#!% off 10+ lbs of its body weight.
The practice became widespread in the early 1970’s which is also when the first uses of the phrase seem to start popping up in a google book search.
- with props to Crazyhorse
I assume he was threatening to throw it at you.
Okay, the racehorse question had been answered, what about the Russian racehorse?
Alliteration. Sounds better.
It may be that he felt he couldn’t stand up straight any more. He wanted to walk like he was a gorilla.
The sigmoid colon is definitely quite curved , and more so when standing straight.
Doctors advise that if you do have trouble, eg leakage , then hunch forward if straining, this straighens the sigmoid colon.
What about, “I’ve gotta go see a man about a horse” to mean “I have to go take a leak.” Has anyone heard or used that?
I heard it while in the military years ago and have been using it ever since, usually when in a bar. Anybody else?
The phrase I’m familiar with is “see a man about a dog”, and it goes back to at least the mid-nineteenth century. It’s not just for going to the toilet; it covers departing for any pressing small business which it would not be seemly to discuss, and it think it originally referred to going to place or settle an (illicit) bet on a greyhound. If that’s so, the variation “see a man about a horse” would make sense.
I have a friend who says “I have some heavy reading to get done,” and returns twenty minutes later. I never understood that. I always preferred to go in, get on with it, get it done and get out.
I say I’m taking the Browns to the Super Bowl. 
I’ve heard a bit of folk wisdom about betting racehorses that you go down to the paddock to see if they piss–presumably, the ones who do won’t be hampered by a full bladder. My uncle used to say this was true of racing greyhounds as well.
I always piss like Richard “Racehorse” Haynes.
There’s taking the Browns to the Super Bowl, or, dropping the kids off at the swimming pool.
About this:
That’s a good explanation, thanks.
While it may be nice to wander the stables before a race, it’s easier if you just learn how to read the program. The program gives the stats on each horsie in each race–just a smidge more useful than a horoscope for helping one pick winners. Back when I was a boy, the anti-bleeding drug was Lasix, which, as mentioned above, is a diuretic. Apparently, the FIRST time a horse is run on Lasix, it gives them a bit of a boost in addition to lost water weight. Therefore, the program would have (L) next to the horsie’s name. Useful, but I found it was often at least as useful to bet on the jockey and generally ignore the horsie’s stats.
I prefer to say ‘urinate like a thoroughbred’.
That’s not as melodic, though.