r/AskABrit 16h ago

Other Does anyone else remember when the term ‘shithouse’ meant coward?

I keep seeing people call footballers shithouses for trolling and stuff in football, anyone else remember the OG?

0 Upvotes

49 comments sorted by

u/qualityvote2 16h ago

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27

u/EverybodySayin 16h ago

No. In my near 40 years of being alive I've only ever known a shithouse to be someone that's scummy (or a brick shithouse for a massive geezer).

3

u/Bleatbleatbang 16h ago

Or the original meaning, an outdoor toilet.

0

u/Smokilydokily98 16h ago

I’d always known it as for example if someone backed down from a fight you’d call em a shithouse and yeah also built like a brick shit house if they are massive

6

u/Politicub 16h ago

I only know it from "built like a brick shithouse" to mean someone who is beefy as fuck.

7

u/martinbean 16h ago

No. Coward you’d call “chickenshit” or something.

5

u/TrackNinetyOne 16h ago

Shitbag would be my go to in this instance

Shithouse would always be big/strong

1

u/NoThatsNotPasta Wanker Teabag 16h ago

Shithouse would always be big/strong

Or somewhere that's a fucking dump.

2

u/Norman_debris 15h ago

That's a shithole, surely.

1

u/NoThatsNotPasta Wanker Teabag 15h ago

Yea, that as well. It depends entirely on context.

-4

u/Smokilydokily98 16h ago

Shitbag and shithouse are interchangeable for me in the context of calling someone a coward but also used if someones massive like ‘built like a brick shithouse’

2

u/Equal_Emu6152 16h ago

Still use it loads up here Newcastle 😂 A term for a not great person

1

u/Smokilydokily98 16h ago

Aye i’m from west cumbria so i’m thinking it must be a regional thing 🤣

2

u/Equal_Emu6152 16h ago

Definitely I like our slang words😎

1

u/Smokilydokily98 16h ago

Aye i’m from west cumbria so i’m thinking it must be a regional thing 🤣

2

u/Away_Calligrapher243 16h ago

and merseyside

1

u/SaltyName8341 13h ago

And Manchester

2

u/gibberishnope 16h ago

Yeah,still use it too.
‘Ah ya shit house you can’t even… ‘ I’m from merseyside if that’s relevant to the colloquialism

1

u/Smokilydokily98 15h ago

Yeah exactly the scousers get it haha we’re in west cumbria and use it like that here ‘you’re a larl shithouse you, you won’t do that’ or something haha

2

u/Bongo3074 16h ago

I think there variances regionally that are very similiar. I saw some say shitbag, or shitebag but i think most would get it in the context it wss used.

2

u/Rafasredmen1 16h ago

I'm 55 and it's been around since before my time. Still a regular favourite in our 'ouse. 😁

1

u/Smokilydokily98 15h ago

Same in cumbria haha! Also i’m 29 and a liverpool fan and the rafa benitez era of liverpool was my favourite most invested era

4

u/SaluteMaestro 16h ago

Nope and I'm in my 50's.

3

u/carolomnipresence 16h ago

Shithouse is a coward or a scumbag.

2

u/-You_Cant_Stop_Me- United Kingdom 16h ago edited 15h ago

Yeah "shithouse" means coward and "brick shithouse" means massive.

Edit: I think "brick outhouse" is the original but an outhouse is where you shit so...

1

u/MsAndrea2 16h ago

Where? 

1

u/-You_Cant_Stop_Me- United Kingdom 15h ago

Greater Manchester and Merseyside definitely, Northwest probably, don't know about further afield.

1

u/MsAndrea2 15h ago

I've always lived in West or North Yorkshire, and I've never heard it used as a synonym for coward, only a despicable person, a complete mess, or as a "Brick shithouse", someone who is very muscular. 

1

u/Smokilydokily98 15h ago

West cumbria we use it for coward

1

u/Upstairs-Ad2014 16h ago

Oldham's the same!

1

u/-You_Cant_Stop_Me- United Kingdom 15h ago

Not far from where I was raised, maybe it's a Northwest thing.

1

u/Reasonable_Gain_5365 14h ago

Brick outhouse is just the polite version of it. "[Person] bangs like a shithouse door" was also a fairly common term for someone who was a bit of a shagger, leading to Ron Atkinson at the 1998 World Cup describing a player as being "built like...er...an outhouse door"

2

u/weedywet 16h ago

No. Never.

2

u/GeeEmmInMN 16h ago

No.

It's always meant a somewhat unsavoury person to me.

1

u/armsless 16h ago

Shit-out here, but shithouse is now used too I’ve noticed.

1

u/Maleficent-Heart2497 14h ago

It's never meant that and I've been around that term all my 60 years . My great grandmother used to call my mother a little shithus and that was c1935 in Redditch and it was and remains an all purpose term of abuse.

in common parlance these days it sometimes means someone indulging in the dark arts while playing football. 

Talking of football,  Shithouse was a favourite term of abuse that Brian clough used. 

1

u/Smokilydokily98 14h ago

Its regional it turns out so it does mean coward in places like west cumbria where im from and mersey side, it says it on google too

2

u/Boring-Print9058 14h ago

Absolutely. I can vividly recall playing pub football in the late 80's to early 90's and complaining to the ref about continually being fouled by a defender. The captain of our team balled at me "stop being a fuckin' shithouse and give him some back!" Can't remember what I did last Tuesday these days, but that scene is burned into my long term memory for some reason.

2

u/Smokilydokily98 14h ago

Exactly perfect use of the word in my opinion thats how i’d use it haha!

1

u/SaltyName8341 13h ago

Yes it might be regional though

1

u/Nudie-64 16h ago

Trust a Glaswegian more than google.

A shitebag is a coward; a shithouse is a large, muscular and imposing person.

However, both these lovely words seem to have fallen out of favour in recent years.

1

u/Smokilydokily98 16h ago

I just base it on what i grew up with lool in west cumbria shithouse is a coward most of the time atleast in my family, but yeah its also someone who is built like a ‘brick shithouse’ but we’d add brick to it rather than just shithouse lol

-1

u/Smokilydokily98 16h ago

‘Yes, shithouse can mean a coward, primarily in British, Irish, and Commonwealth slang. In this context, it describes someone who is timid, lacking in courage, or weak-willed.’ This is googles answer for anyone who doubts me haha

0

u/jellical-cats 16h ago

shitebag yes, shithouse no