# What does "Don't shit where you eat" mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-dont-shit-where-you-eat-mean/984414>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 22, 2023, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-dont-shit-where-you-eat-mean/984414 "2023-05-22T11:05:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 35

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-dont-shit-where-you-eat-mean/984414/35 "2023-05-22T16:56:42Z")

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Of _course_ there are earlier threads:

> [@What's the polite/original phrase for "Don't shit where you eat?"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-polite-original-phrase-for-dont-shit-where-you-eat/410372):
>
> I was talking about adages and was laughing at that one, but then I realized that I don’t know a quaint or antiquated version of it…what’s the “a stitch in time saves nine”-style adage that means “don’t shit where you eat?”

> [@Is there a polite version of "don't shit where you eat?"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-polite-version-of-dont-shit-where-you-eat/507770):
>
> Looking for a saw, adage, whatever that doesn’t have poop in it to signify the same lesson. “Don’t dip your pen in the company ink” was suggested by a friend, but I think that has a different connotation.

But I’m really curious, OP, where you have seen the phrase in the past to be familiar with it, but to have not seen the context that it is an aphorism and not a hygene tip? It seems like interpreting it literally would be a non-sequiter.

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