to shit where you eat
1
9.9
- idiom
- /ʃɪt wɛr ju it/
- Offensive
:
cagar donde comes
- Why shit where you eat?
Examples
-
He was warned not to shit where you eat after he offended his colleagues during the meeting.
-
It's unwise to shit where you eat by criticizing your boss in front of your coworkers.
-
She believes that it's a bad idea to shit where you eat, so she keeps her complaints private.
Antonyms
How Risky
- Informal
1
7.7
- Informal
1
7.5
- Offensive
1
9.9
- Informal
20
5.3
56
3.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal constituents ('shit' + 'where you eat') create a vivid image of contaminating the place where you rely on food, so a learner who knows the words can plausibly infer a warning about damaging or causing trouble in one’s own environment. However, the expression is metaphorical, pragmatic, and vulgar, and the exact pragmatic sense (don’t behave badly where you live or work) is not fully predictable without prior exposure or cultural knowledge.
Etymology
Shit where you eat gives a strong image: to shit in the place you eat, making your own space dirty. So, it means 'to cause trouble or harm your own workplace or group'.