# Piss like a race horse **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2016, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857 "2016-05-04T05:32:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/1 "2016-05-04T05:32:03Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/2 "2016-05-04T06:09:56Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/3 "2016-05-04T11:35:44Z")
^Excellent! I was going to guess something along those lines. ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/4 "2016-05-04T13:00:22Z")
Also, it simply has a nice ring to it. Sometimes things just sound better a certain way. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/5 "2016-05-04T16:15:28Z")
As a teenager I had a friend who would announce his urgent need to “Shit like a gorilla.” Discuss. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/6 "2016-05-04T17:08:02Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > 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 ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/7 "2016-05-04T17:11:36Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > As a teenager I had a friend who would announce his urgent need to “Shit like a gorilla.” > Discuss. I assume he was threatening to [throw it at you](https://www.jukinmedia.com/licensing/view/4894). ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/8 "2016-05-05T02:57:11Z")
Okay, the racehorse question had been answered, what about the Russian racehorse? ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/9 "2016-05-05T03:04:41Z")
Alliteration. Sounds better. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/10 "2016-05-05T03:39:12Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > As a teenager I had a friend who would announce his urgent need to “Shit like a gorilla.” > Discuss. 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. > **[Large intestine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_intestine#/media/File:Intestine-diagram.svg)** > > The large intestine, also known as the large bowel, is the last part of the gastrointestinal tract and of the digestive system in tetrapods. Water is absorbed here and the remaining waste material is stored in the rectum as feces before being removed by defecation. The colon is the longest portion of the large intestine, and the terms are often used interchangeably but most sources define the large intestine as the combination of the cecum, colon, rectum, and anal canal. Some other so In humans, ... ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/11 "2016-05-05T04:12:01Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/12 "2016-05-05T04:24:27Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/13 "2016-05-05T05:16:20Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/14 "2016-05-05T06:09:50Z")
I say I’m taking the Browns to the Super Bowl. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/15 "2016-05-05T06:40:55Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/16 "2016-05-05T08:01:50Z")
I always piss like Richard “Racehorse” Haynes. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/17 "2016-05-05T10:28:42Z")
There’s taking the Browns to the Super Bowl, or, dropping the kids off at the swimming pool. About this: > [@UDS](#): > > 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. That’s a good explanation, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/18 "2016-05-05T13:41:42Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/19 "2016-05-05T14:08:39Z")
I prefer to say ‘urinate like a thoroughbred’. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857/20 "2016-05-05T16:03:14Z")
That’s not as melodic, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-like-a-race-horse/753857.md?page=2)