Back when woollen fulling mills were in full production in the Lancashire valleys, human urine was a valuable thing. Families could earn a penny for a pot of wee, as it was good stuff for stripping the lanolin from the woollen cloth so that it could be 'fulled' (made thicker and warmer). The chap who came to take it, was 'taking the piss'- he probably tried not to pay for it. When synthetic soaps began being used instead, people we so poor because they'd 'not a pot to piss in'!
Another lovely, lavatory phrase 'spending a penny' comes from something completely different however, it's a lot more classy! Public lavatories used to be the reserve of those who could afford to spend a penny for the loo door to open for them, such as these beautifully preserved ones at the Lady Lever Art Gallery.
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