It’s the Pits, but What are the Pits?

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Miranda. I’m calling from Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Welcome to the show, Miranda. What can we do for you today?

I’m a nurse, so I encounter different people every day. I hear different phrases all the time.

A patient of mine was talking about food, and she said it was in the pits.

And I kind of like, you know, took a step back and I said, in the pits.

And she’s like, yeah, in the pits.

This is the pits, in the pits.

And I knew what she was referring to, but I just never heard the term before.

So I wanted to know more about it and where it came from.

Miranda, she was using that term in a negative sense then, right?

This food was the pit.

Was it hospital food or something?

Yeah, yeah, it was hospital food, and unfortunately, hospital food isn’t always the greatest.

So, yeah.

And did you have theories, Miranda?

You know, well, I thought maybe, like, in the pits, like, maybe that’s what they would refer to something with, like, feeding, like, farm animals, like pigs or something.

Oh, I see.

Like, be in the pits in that sense.

Maybe the pits of Hades or something like that, too.

Oh, yeah.

I didn’t even think about that.

But, you know, it’s actually a little grosser than that.

It refers to the armpits.

Oh.

Okay.

Yeah.

But you’re a nerd.

I didn’t get this.

Because the armpits can get pretty nasty, right?

Stinky and hairy.

And it dates back to around the 1950s.

It started as college slang, I believe.

People talking about something like an exam result being the pits or feeling really terrible and feeling like the pits.

And it just kind of continued from there.

And you just feel like the pits, feel like the armpits.

Well, that is not the explanation that I was expecting.

And it’s related to calling towns like the armpit of whatever, like this town is the armpit of the West, or this town is the armpit of this state.

But it’s not abbreviated when we talk about a town, but it is when we talk about anything else, this is the pits.

So, Miranda, how about that? It’s an axillary origin.

That’s very interesting, and it actually makes it quite comical.

Well, Miranda, we’re happy to help.

Take care, and we appreciate the work that you do in the hospital.

Oh, thank you very much.

You guys take care as well.

All right.

Okay.

Bye-bye.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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