# What's the polite/original phrase for "Don't shit where you eat?"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-polite-original-phrase-for-dont-shit-where-you-eat/410372>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 3, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-polite-original-phrase-for-dont-shit-where-you-eat/410372 "2007-07-03T17:47:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**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:** [July 6, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-polite-original-phrase-for-dont-shit-where-you-eat/410372/41 "2007-07-06T16:58:29Z")

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I’ve always heard it “Don’t piss in your pool.”

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**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-polite-original-phrase-for-dont-shit-where-you-eat/410372/42 "2007-07-06T21:34:51Z")

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[QUOTE=AskNott]  
With all due respect to \*\*Knead To Know \*\* and **Dr. Drake** , several of the posters who strayed from the “keep your dick out of the till” model were aiming at humor, after the OP had been adequately answered. On the other hand, “don’t shit where you eat” doesn’t easily translate to “don’t fuck the help,” unless you’re into coprophilia. In several works of fiction, DSWYE means “don’t swindle your co-workers,” “don’t steal from your own family,” and “don’t be vicious toward your relatives.”

“_Do not shit (= fuck)_”?? Maybe _you_ fuck that way, mon ami. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… 😉  
[/QUOTE]  
I can recall a situation in the mid-1990s in Southern California where the proverb was used to castigate a pair of co-workers whose relationship was causing problems at work. In other words, it’s not an interpretation I’m pushing, it’s one I have observed. It doesn’t have to be the original one, the main one, or the only one, just one that’s out there.

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**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:** [July 7, 2007, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-polite-original-phrase-for-dont-shit-where-you-eat/410372/43 "2007-07-07T02:17:26Z")

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[QUOTE=Dr. Drake]  
I can recall a situation in the mid-1990s in Southern California where the proverb was used to castigate a pair of co-workers whose relationship was causing problems at work. In other words, it’s not an interpretation I’m pushing, it’s one I have observed. It doesn’t have to be the original one, the main one, or the only one, just one that’s out there.  
[/QUOTE]

Yes, over here, “Don’t piss in your pool” is always used to admonish someone not to sleep with (A) the maid and (B) the employees. I’ve not heard it used for any other situation.

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