Taking the Piss

This is a classical British expression. There is nothing even remotely similar to it in America. This one phrase can have a lot of different meanings, depending on how it’s used. For example:

• If you keep promising to do something and never do it, you’d be taking the piss.
• If you order a Diet Coke to go with your 3 Big Macs, you’d be taking the piss (unless, like me, you PREFER a diet soda).
• If you say that British cuisine is the best in the world, you’d be taking the piss.
• If you say that George W. Bush is a great orator (or a great president, for that matter), you’d be taking the piss.

In simplistic terms, taking the piss means to be sarcastic, make fun of, take advantage of, or even say something totally untrue and ridiculous. You sometimes hear the expressions “taking the mickey” or “taking the mick” instead. (I guess these are used by people who don’t like saying the “piss” word).

Actually, the Brits use the word “piss” in a number of ways, most of them referring to drinking or being drunk. In America, being “pissed” means being angry; in the UK it means being drunk. (Although “pissed off” means the same thing in both countries). To the British, going “out on the piss” is to go out drinking, to have a “piss up” is to have a party, telling someone to “piss off” (or “bugger off”) is telling them to get lost. And finally, to “have a piss” is just that…to have a pee.

Yep, I’d have to say the Brits love taking the piss!