Talk:Taking the piss

message: I thought that "taking the piss" was a very Australian phrase, not used or even understood by most other english speaking nations. I certainly did not think that it was used at all in Britain, with "taking the mickey" the more common British expression.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.210.64.214 (talk) 06:50, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: This Australian had been hearing it on English TV for many years before it was common in Australia. It eventually filtered through to Aust society and became common in everyday use, along with another UK phrase taking a slash. Format (talk) 04:21, 2 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  British Slang Expression? 

message: The Canadian military uses it, as well.  We have various forums that British terms are used and absorbed into the Canadian culture.  The Canadian Forces works closely and often with the British, Australian and NZ miliatries. Canada has a lot of British programming on CBC, Slice, BBC Canada and W Network, also.  If you were to say "taking the piss" to an average Canadian let alone CF member, they would know what you were referring to, therefore, you could include Canada to your list.123.2.12.12 (talk) 18:59, 6 June 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Canadian usage 

message: As it stands, this is a dictionary definition. It needs to be expanded into an encyclopedia article (use of these terms in culture etc etc). --kingboyk 00:53, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dictdef 

message: the subject. 68.123.141.33 18:04, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who or what is "mickey bliss"? 

message: What's with the original research tag on the article? --Pavithran 04:14, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Only one of the numerous proposed etymologies is cited.  — The Storm Surfer 15:07, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article Tag 

message: --58.105.28.25 11:18, 25 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah, but who is Mickey Bliss? Why isn't it "take the Joey" or "take the Billy" out of someone, after Joey and Billy Bliss, who, presumably, are also entirely unknown? Maybe I just don't understand how Cockney rhyming slang works...  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sir Tobek (talk • contribs) 10:37, 3 September 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: It was probably just arbitrarily chosen; it originated as a way for felons to talk to each other in security.90.220.142.29 (talk) 00:31, 29 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who the hell is "mickey bliss"? 

message: I can't cite any sources for this, other than my own experience, but I think the origins of "taking the piss" and "taking the Mickey" are more complicated than the article suggests.
I think both expressions refer to "fighting spirit", as in "He's getting my Mickey up," (also "getting my Irish up") and "He's full of piss and vinegar."
If that's correct, "Taking the Mickey (or piss) out" of somebody, is to deflate his or her spirit by poking fun at her or him.
--Jdcrutch (talk) 15:09, 30 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Taking the Mickey <i>out</i> 

message: I always thought Mc and Mac were common prefixes for the Scots, not the Irish. None of my Irish mates have a name starting with Mc/Mac.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.81.18.30 (talk) 06:41, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Mc and Mac actually comes from Ireland.  Mc (and the uncommon M) is just an abbreviation of Mac used by the Irish Gaels to denote a passing of name from a father. "O" is a disinctly Irish prefix used originally where the name came from the Grandfather.    Scots are the descendants of invading Irish who mixed with the picts and others there in the early middle ages. The name of the Scots was taken from the inhabitants of Ireland known as Scotti. Dainamo (talk) 02:03, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mc- for Irish? 

message: The article should say up front how this is used, is it the subject or the object who is mocking/being mocked? 96.224.167.176 (talk) 19:38, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who or whom is taking the piss? 

message: "Theories" indeed. These shaggy dog stories hardly count as theories. Leaving aside the lack of any shred of evidence to support them, they don't even make logical sense. There should at least be some kind of warning that they're for entertainment value only. Flapdragon (talk) 23:25, 23 October 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Indeed, upon reading the Alternative theory, I was left thinking 'are they taking the piss?' 92.239.188.163 (talk) 22:00, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

text: It doesn't even make sense liguistically - even if the highly contrived situation they describe ever came about, you would say "you're taking piss" not "you're taking the piss". Somebody is definitely taking the piss. 86.20.66.253 (talk) 23:00, 29 October 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Not that the main theory is much better. Something that might have been just "taking out" (= either 'mimicking', or 'deflating' one 'full of themself') + a swearword for added pizzazz was transmogrified into a salty penis story... 46.186.33.6 (talk) 02:35, 14 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Alternative theories of origin" 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The base form of taking the piss is to take the piss, and normally an idiomatic expression would be listed under its base form in a dictionary (see wiktionary links). Otoh, in an encyclopedia (especially this one, with policies on due weight) I wonder whether that holds. Ngrams shows that taking is the most common inflectin, followed by take, took, takes, taken. Furthermore, since the article is about the term itself (as seen in the first sentence, the section titles, and the content), it is a case of WP:WORDSASWORDS and as such, the base form of the expression should be used. Mathglot (talk) 23:13, 12 April 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Base form, or most common expression? 

message: "Taking the piss" Generally means having or trying to have advantage over someone else or group. When at a party or barbecue and alcoholic beverages were provided or contributed there would sometimes be someone who would literally take some of it away when they left. If caught they would be accused of "Taking the Piss" Piss being the colloquial term for alcoholic beverages. This is highly frowned upon in Australia and New Zealand.
163.47.238.23 (talk) 01:39, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Australia/New Zealand