the pits
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Theorized to be a shortened form of armpits, i.e., somewhere or something unpleasant or undesirable. First use appears c. 1953. See cite below.
Noun
[edit]- (slang) Something miserable or unpleasant.
- Synonym: the dumps
- Doing it once is no fun, but doing it over because you lost your work is the pits.
- 1953, Joseph Becker Phillips, Malcolm Muir, Raymond Moley, Rex Smith, Samuel Thurston Williamson (contributors), Newsweek[1], volume 42, page 54:
- A bad exam experience would be ‘I'm wasted’ at Howard,..‘It was the pits’ at Vassar.
- 1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System:
- Ain't that the pits... I'm actually gonna have to wait for another customer in this crazy heat? That's harsh...