shit or get off the pot

Idioms and Phrases

see under fish or cut bait .

More About Shit Or Get Off The Pot

What does shit or get off the pot mean?

Making a decision can be like, well, taking a dump: do it or make way for someone else who has to go.

Shit or get off the pot is an idiom used to urge someone to make a decision.

How is shit or get off the pot pronounced?

[shit er get of thuh pot]

What are some other phrases related to shit or get off the pot?

shit just got real
fish or cut bait
put up or shut up

Where does shit or get off the pot come from?

The expression shit or get off the pot is a vulgar variant for a number of decision-making idioms, such as fish or cut bait or put up or shut up. Regardless of the particular metaphorical vehicle they use, all these sayings encourage an ambivalent, indecisive, or tentative person to do something, or else let someone else do it.

The origin of shit or get off the pot isn’t exactly clear. One theory, likely folk etymology, claims the expression goes back to the days when a family would share a single chamberpot, giving greater urgency to doing one’s business. Whatever the source, the phrase is attested as crap or get off the pot as early as 1938 and shit or get off the pot in 1939.

In 1952, Richard Nixon, then the running mate of Republican presidential candidate Dwight Eisenhower, infamously lashed out at Eisenhower (for being indecisive about how to handle a scandal Nixon was implicated in) by saying: “There comes a time in matters like this that when you’ve either got to shit or get off the pot … The great trouble here is the indecision.”

How is shit or get off the pot used in real life?

Variants of shit or get off the pot include crap or get off the pot, as we saw above, and piss or get off the pot. It is often used as a more forceful way to urge someone “to just do it already.”

Everyone can see it. You’re depriving yourself of happiness. Shit or get off the pot.

— A$AP FERGALICIOUS (@fiiiiiilth) August 25, 2018

The expression can imply that a person is lacking the wherewithal to take action.

Tia you are killing me…you want him, then you dont…shit or get off the pot and stop hedging your bets #bacheloreinparadise #tiaandcolton

— Cristina Okal (@crissyokal) August 21, 2018

Shit of get off the pot is frequently used in political contexts, with people using it to express frustration with waffling or lack of clear, decisive action from leaders.

If Mueller had any evidence that would impeach the President we are sure t would of been presented by now. Shit or get off the pot

— Marianne (@alice0maa) August 25, 2018

More examples of shit or get off the pot:

“They are going to have to shit or get off the pot and say, if we are going to take this seriously for 2019 then we have to collaborate with the professional body and get access to players.”

—Mark McDermott quoted by Will Slattery, Irish Independent, July 2018