The origin of 'pass water'

[Tan Elaine]

Could someone let me know why "to pass water' means 'to urinate"? How did the phrase come about?

Thanks.

 

[Tdol]

I presume it's just a euphemism, like waters breaking in pregnancy. I haven't come across an explanation for the phrase.

 

[BobK]

It's two euphemisms (which boil down to one - as the the listener can only work out the meaning of the euphemistic 'water' in the context of the euphemistic 'pass')

b.

 

[Tan Elaine]

Thanks, Tdol and Bob.

I agree with both of you. It would not sound polite if I said, "I want to pass urine" despite the fact that 'to urinate' means 'to pass urine'.

 

[5jj]

I agree with both of you. It would not sound polite if I said, "I want to pass urine" despite the fact that 'to urinate' means 'to pass urine'.

Or, more simply, it means 'p*ss'. It's a sad fact about English that, in order not to offend certain people, I need to use an asterisk there. In French, the place that men pass water is often publicly labelled 'pissoir', and I have seen 'Pissort' in Germany.

 

[Tan Elaine]

If I am not wrong, topics about urination and defaecation are taboo to Americans. They find the topics offensive.

 

[SoothingDave]

They are not things that are spoken about in polite company.

 

[Rover_KE]

'Pass water' has to be the ultimate euphemism for this popular bodily function.

I bet doctors hear it every day from their elderly patients, accompanied by an embarrassed blush.

Rover