a pot to piss in thanks to ....

[rambopark]

Greeting!
I really wrote this post after a long time.

What I want to ask you is a sentence in a drama "Prison Break" of the USA.

That is "Especially, we don't have a pot to piss in thanks to Abruzzi's magically disappearing jet."

In here, what's the point? I don't understand the meaning of 'a pot' and 'piss in'.

The short story is that Abruzzi's already prepared a jet to escape for them before escaping, but that plan went wrong.
So the escapees couldn't take that jet. And now, they're running on foot. So a con said that. As I felt, he talked with a sarcastic remark.

Thanks :>

 

[Cagey]

Welcome back, rambopark.

It refers to an idiom used to express extreme poverty. The full version, as I learned it was:
They were so poor that they didn't have a pot to piss in [or a window to throw it out of].
(The last part is usually left off.)

"Thanks to" means something like because of .... In this context, it is sarcastic, as the disappearance of the jet was not a favor, a good thing that someone should give thanks for. However, "thanks to" is often more neutral in meaning. "They could grow their own food easily, thanks to the rich soil."


Added: Thank you for giving excellent context and background.

 

[bennymix]

It's an old saying about being in desperately deprived or poor circumstances. "He doesn't have a pot to piss in."

 

[Miss Julie]

pot = toilet
piss = urinate

 

[mr cat]

pot = toilet
piss = urinate

I don't think that pot meant toilet, from what I know, (may be myth of course), at one time you could sell your urine to the tanners and so if you didn't even have a pot to collect it in you were really in dire straits.

 

[Miss Julie]

I don't think that pot meant toilet, from what I know, (may be myth of course), at one time you could sell your urine to the tanners and so if you didn't even have a pot to collect it in you were really in dire straits.

I've always understood "pot" (in this context) to be short for chamber pot:

a vessel for urine, used in bedrooms (from WR dictionary)

 

[bennymix]

No, I don't think it means 'chamber pot.' It means you have so few items, including pots for cooking, that even drafting a cooking pot or other pot to pee in, is not possible.

 

[Miss Julie]

Yes, it does mean chamber pot. Didn't you see the WR dictionary definition I provided earlier? It is a pot specifically used for urination. You certainly would not use a cooking pot for that purpose. Sorry, but you're wrong.

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