If this doesn’t have a factual answer I apologise for putting it here. But I am sure it must.
UK: Pissed: Anebriated.
US: Pissed: Angry.
Why?
Australia:
Pissed = Drunk as a skunk.
Pissed Off = Angry.
Possibly the US version is a contraction of pissed off?
I know that’s an opinion, but hey it’s possible.
Canada:
Pissed: Angry
Pissed: Drunk
Pissed: Drunk and angry.
Why? Because they’re different countries with different cultures and different histories.
I beleive it’s a real (not just attributed) quote by Winston Churchill that Britain and the US are two countries separated by a common language.
Just like “fanny”.
I was quite surprised when I found out what the UK version of “fanny” meant.
It gave a whole new meaning to the term “fanny pack”. :eek:
Northern Ireland
Pissed - Angry
Pissed - Drunk
Pissing - urinating
Pissing - raining heavily
Passion - raining heavily in Ballymena
It’s probably a contraction of pissed off. In the US:
Pissed = angry
Pissed off = angry
Pissing = urinating
Pissing someone off = making someone angry
Pissah: Wickid awesome, Boston
Maybe it’s because some people get pissed when they’re pissed, and others get pissed when they’re pissed.
I’l leave now.
Maybe the US just has a high proportion of angry drunks?
I always thought that was George Bernard Shaw.
NOthing conclusive, but it should help you.
Back in college (in the States) I used to hang out with a bunch of english people. My favorite:
Taking the Piss --> To goof on a friend and deflate their ego
Sigh. Possibly it’s neither Shaw nor Churchill. See the discussion here.
(*Ireland too)
Yes indeed, and I found it rather horrifying to hear a parent threaten to paddle their child’s fanny … :eek: :eek:
'round these here parts you can:
get pissed
be pissed off
take the piss
go on the piss
piss off
piss yourself
LOL! 
Good stuff.
This is the sort of stuff we advise Northern Irish students about before they go on a placement to the US. I heard a tale about an NI student who told his room mate that he had gone out and got “pissed but it was great craic.” And his room mate tried to throw him out of their room because he thought he meant he was angry because he was using cocaine, instead of which our student meant that he was quite drunk but it was all good fun 
I got so pissed last night and my bladder was so full that I nearly pissed my pants - and that would have pissed me off royaly…
No-one quite speaks English like Norn Iron folks!!!
Nice to see another Belfast doper, Pushkin 
I wonder what UK folks think the first time they run into a Frances who goes by the common US nickname for same…
And the answer is…? 