“Some modern uses of “pit” have completely lost their original “lower level” sense, such as the “trading pit” on the floor of a stock exchange, the gaming area of casinos”
Those places have observation area that is over the pit, so it still has the lower level meaning.
NES
Ian Harewood:
July 16th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Before mechanical circular saws , tree trunks and large baulks of timber were sawn longitudinally using a 6 foot long two man saw.The lucky man stood over the log whilst the new guy stood in a pit below the log – top man pulled the saw upwards , the pit man pulled it downwards. The pit man got all the saw dust and occaisionally bits of timber and broken saw – hence the expression “the pits”to describe a bad job or experince.
I, as well, use a pit-bull who may be the most tender animal I’ve ever owned. Quickly, a brand new dog breed will can come along for your media to blast, because they have done rotties and dobies in earlier many years. Unfortunate that media sensationalism breeds so much inaccurate information.
veronica:
November 4th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
I remember this expression really becoming popular in the ’70s when Rhoda used it a lot.
Michael:
March 29th, 2012 at 10:29 am
Interesting, I always assumed that it was referring to the good parts of life being the good part of the fruit and the parts that we were concerned with being “the pits”.
Ryan:
November 17th, 2014 at 9:38 pm
This article is absolute garbage.
Jennifer Flower:
December 20th, 2015 at 11:18 am
Growing up in New York City in the 1970s, I heard trhat it was a junkie expression for having exhausted all the other good blood vessels and now having to shoot up in the armpits. Perhaps this is why the expression became so popular in the 1970s in New York.
Jeff Miller:
February 16th, 2021 at 10:47 pm
I recall reading long ago that when a heroin addict ran out of useable injection sites in his arms and legs, they had to resort to shooting up in their armpits which would be incredibly painful not to mention awkward and this situation was about as low as an addict could sink, a very bad situation from which we get the usages like “this is the pits.” On the other hand, I have heard people call a city or town “the armpit” of a state or some other region.
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Topi Linkala:
April 28th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
“Some modern uses of “pit” have completely lost their original “lower level” sense, such as the “trading pit” on the floor of a stock exchange, the gaming area of casinos”
Those places have observation area that is over the pit, so it still has the lower level meaning.
NES
Ian Harewood:
July 16th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Before mechanical circular saws , tree trunks and large baulks of timber were sawn longitudinally using a 6 foot long two man saw.The lucky man stood over the log whilst the new guy stood in a pit below the log – top man pulled the saw upwards , the pit man pulled it downwards. The pit man got all the saw dust and occaisionally bits of timber and broken saw – hence the expression “the pits”to describe a bad job or experince.
Price:
March 15th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
I, as well, use a pit-bull who may be the most tender animal I’ve ever owned. Quickly, a brand new dog breed will can come along for your media to blast, because they have done rotties and dobies in earlier many years. Unfortunate that media sensationalism breeds so much inaccurate information.
veronica:
November 4th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
I remember this expression really becoming popular in the ’70s when Rhoda used it a lot.
Michael:
March 29th, 2012 at 10:29 am
Interesting, I always assumed that it was referring to the good parts of life being the good part of the fruit and the parts that we were concerned with being “the pits”.
Ryan:
November 17th, 2014 at 9:38 pm
This article is absolute garbage.
Jennifer Flower:
December 20th, 2015 at 11:18 am
Growing up in New York City in the 1970s, I heard trhat it was a junkie expression for having exhausted all the other good blood vessels and now having to shoot up in the armpits. Perhaps this is why the expression became so popular in the 1970s in New York.
Jeff Miller:
February 16th, 2021 at 10:47 pm
I recall reading long ago that when a heroin addict ran out of useable injection sites in his arms and legs, they had to resort to shooting up in their armpits which would be incredibly painful not to mention awkward and this situation was about as low as an addict could sink, a very bad situation from which we get the usages like “this is the pits.” On the other hand, I have heard people call a city or town “the armpit” of a state or some other region.