piss poor

Whoever said history was boring? Our forefathers used urine to tan animal skins, so families would pee in a pot. Once a day it was taken and sold to the tannery. If you had to do this to survive, you were, “piss poor.” But worse than that were the really poor folks who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot. They “didn’t have a pot to piss in” and were considered the lowest of the low.