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#32381 06/15/01 11:06 AM
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Jackie, forgive me for asking this, but...

There is a vulgar expression "crazier than a s***house rat" which I have heard occasionally. I wonder where does this come from? That is, I wonder why a rat in a latrine would suffer from mental disorder? I would think it would be quite content in such a place.




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Oh, I thought this was a thread about Republicans.

Actually®, I never really thought about it, but I suppose an outhouse would be a fine environment for said rodent. I imagine the expression comes from the human's point of view: Damn, that rat loves it in this s***house! He must be crazy!


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In reply to:

Oh, I thought this was a thread about Republicans


Hilarious. Thank you very much.


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"I would think it would be quite content in such a place."

Since there is nothing to eat there, only a crazy rat would be content.


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Rats!-- but this is a yart-- we can start it up again.. but we had oodle of rats expressions. Rats up (and down) the drain, wet rats, things that looked like a rats tails--

It was --oct? Nov? of last year...


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In defence of Alex, this is not just about rats. It is a question about how a phrase made sense to someone. It is totally unreasonable to expect relative newcomers to search back over a month.I still resent the waste of two hours I put into trying to discover how "ayleurs" originated. Old timers can simply ignore posts that don't interest them.Sorry, dear Helen, I do not want to offend you.


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point of view

'nuff to drive any rodent mad


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Dr bill, no offence-- -- I understand what you mean-- i know there is a rat thread--and even I am loath to search-- but it was a lovely long thread-- and rehashing (yet another rehashed topic) a topic in less than a year can be boring--

there are several options...
search, (and eventualy find it)
ask someone to assist with the search, (and maybe have more (or less!) luck, or
just continue the yart-- and let us old hands, and booh pahs deal with it!


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My opinion of the phrase is that it is a second rate knockoff on the much older one "poor as a churchmouse". Church mice were desperately poor in the sense that in the early churches when the phrase was coined, there was no food stored nor any eating (except communion wafers).


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Well, if you were a claustrophobic rat living on a steady diet of s*** you'd go crazy, too!


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