Where did that come from

Piss Poor.

People would sell urine to the tannery for preserving animal skin, they would collect it in a pot and take it to the tannery hence "piss poor".

Sadly some very poor people could not afford a receptacle to take their urine to the tannery so " they had not got a pot to piss in"

Yeh I have plenty of pot holes in my street here - wish the town hall understood the saying "please can you come and fill in our pot holes they've been here for years!!"

'Use your loaf' comes from the war of independance in the USA. Our troops were being picked off by snipers, so they used a loaf of bread, probably with a helmet, to trick the snipers into showing their position.

Very intereresting, does anyone know anymore.

BITE THE BULLET

This old saying means to grin and bear a painful situation. It comes from the days before anaesthetics. A soldier about to undergo an operation was given a bullet to bite.

CLOUD CUCKOO LAND

This phrase comes from a play called The Birds by the Greek dramatist Aristophanes (c.448-385 BC). In the play the birds decide to build a utopian city called Cloud cuckoo land.

COPPER

GET THE SACK

This comes from the days when workmen carried their tools in sacks. If your employer gave you the sack it was time to collect your tools and go.

GO TO POT

Any farm animal that had outlived its usefulness such as a hen that no longer laid eggs would literally go to pot. It was cooked and eaten.

SWINGING THE LEAD:
A nautical term from sailing ship times. As the ship was approaching shallow water someone was sent to the front and "swung" a lead weighted rope which was knotted all along its length to establish the depth of the water.
This was considered the easiest task on board as everyone else were climbing rigging, pulling up sails etc.

POT LUCK

In the past all kinds of food went into a big pot for cooking. If you sat down to a meal with a family you often had to take 'pot luck' and could never be quite sure what you would be served.

SCOT FREE

This has nothing to do with Scotland. Scot is an old word for payment so if you went scot free you went without paying.

Daylight Robbery
Having lived in Bath for many years I decided to get on the open top tour bus one Saturday. The history of the city was fascinating. Many of the Georgian buildings had their windows bricked up and fake window frames painted in their place. This was due to window tax being imposed and hence the term daylight robbery came about.
I also learnt that taxes were paid in the Guild hall in the city. The table they were paid at was called the Nail, hence the saying "paying on the nail.
Keep these coming as I find them fascinating.

WHIPPING BOY

Prince Edward, later Edward VI, had a boy who was whipped in his place every time he was naughty.

TAKEN ABACK

If the wind suddenly changed direction a sailing ship stopped moving forward. It was 'taken aback', which was a bit of a shock for the sailors.