territorial pissing
- noun
- /ˌtɛrɪˈtɔriəl ˈpɪsɪŋ/
- Offensive
:
pelea de egos (vulgar)
- His loud comments about the project were just territorial pissing, trying to show he was more influential than his colleagues.
Examples
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During the meeting, there was a territorial pissing display among the team leaders as they sought to assert their authority.
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The two dogs engaged in a territorial pissing contest, each trying to mark their claim to the yard.
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Not to mention that having two closers means a big territorial pissing match in the clubhouse.
Blog text (9)
Synonyms
A very angry, petty argument with personal insults
Antonyms
How Aggressive
Surface Forms
Morphology
territorial + pissing
The phrase is compositionally formed from 'territorial' (relating to territory) and 'pissing' (urinating), so a learner who knows both words can readily infer the literal meaning of marking territory by urination—an animal behavior familiar across languages. However, its frequent figurative use to mean aggressively asserting dominance or claiming social boundaries is a pragmatic, somewhat vulgar extension that is not fully predictable from the parts for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Territorial pissing comes from the image of animals that mark their area by pissing, because a dog or cat will pee on things to say 'this is mine'. So when people act loudly to claim space or show power, we call that 'territorial pissing'.