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Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Adjective Phrase 29. Today we're actually
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going to cover two adjectives phrases that have nearly the same meaning.You
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could either say dirt poor or piss-poor. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here.
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If someone is dirt poor he or she is extremely poor or destitute. Kind of like
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third-world poor. Some people claim the origin of this phrase refers back to
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former times when very poor people actually had dirt floors. Only wealthy
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people could afford other material usually wood. However, there are others
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who dispute this claim. Because this claim goes back to like more like the
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Middle Ages like 1500s, 1600s, 1700s. You know, around that time. So that might even
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be more like during the Renaissance period. But there, there really were poor
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people that truly did have dirt floors at that time, So that part is actually
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correct. Others believe the term may have come about due to the Dust Bowl of the
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1930s. Yeah. That was during the Depression but there was some certain states that used
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to suffer from this. There's a Dust Bowl that came around and if you know, you
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lived in that area , it made you even extremely poor. So the dust of course
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would refer back to dirt. Many say this phrase did not start to appear until
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around this time. During the 1930s. So that's another reason why they think that it's
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more likely to be from the Dust Bowl than before. Okay. Let's take a look at
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piss-poor. Piss poor also means extremely poor and we have another story for this
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one. Some, some claim the origin of this term comes from the fact that at one
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time urine you know, pee, urine was used to tan animal skins. Now this is true.
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They claim families used to pee in a pot every day and it was brought to the
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tannery to be sold. Yes. So yes every day it was brought to the
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tannery to be sold. They say the poorest families could not even afford the pot and this
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is where the phrase someone does not have a pot to piss in actually comes
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from. I don't know if this one is is really completely true too. But it was true
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that they used to tan clothes from urine at one time. Okay. And I guess they did
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actually have to buy pee at one time. However, this is also disputed. So some
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people also say that maybe this is not really correct.
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They say ... others say that the word piss used to be an intensifier. Even though I
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don't really hear it so much used as an intensifier right now. But we still do use
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some of those words. Just simply to mean very or extremely, as in the words piss
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poor or piss ugly. Yeah . I have heard that before.
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So in that case piss ugly just means very ugly or extremely ugly. Well. Piss
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poor would just be very, very poor. Okay. Anyway, we just have several examples
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here to cover this. All right. So example number one. Many
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families in Third-World countries are dirt poor. Yeah. Okay.
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Or number two. Her life story is a rags- to -riches story. Remember that's usually
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somebody was born really poor and then they become rich later. She was born piss
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poor and eventually became wealthy. Okay. Good. And the last one is the idea of
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like we say a pot to piss in. You can start. You can, you, you probably you
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shouldn't. You shouldn't start a business with him. He doesn't have a pot to piss
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in. So that means if somebody doesn't have a pot to piss in it means they have
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no money at all. Okay. Anyway, hope you got it. I hope it was clear. Thank you for your time.
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Bye-bye.
