A comical and interesting snap shot of some historical facts and trivia…
“They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & Sold to the tannery…….if you had to do this to survive you were ‘Piss Poor’
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot……they “didn’t have a pot to piss in” & were the lowest of the low”
See more at http://www.thisblewmymind.com/origin-piss-poor-popular-sayings/