"Shit or Get Off the Pot"

[Herbert Stahlke]

Is "Shit or get off the pot" generally interpreted as meaning the same thing
as "Fish or cut bait"?

Herb (or recent thread)

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Sam Clements
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 5:32 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Shit or Get Off the Pot"


Fred,

Christine Ammer in The Am. Heritage Dic of Idioms says it comes from the
1940's.  No cite of course.

SC
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Shapiro" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 5:59 PM
Subject: "Shit or Get Off the Pot"


> Jesse, Jonathon, Tom, Barry, Joanne, etc.:
> The earliest occurrence on Nexis for "shit or get off the pot/off of the
> pot" is Newsweek, 16 Apr. 1984 (by Richard Nixon, repeating something he
> said he said to Dwight Eisenhower in 1952).  Does anyone have in their
> files any earlier citations than 1984?
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
> Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
>   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
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