Where does the pejorative meaning of "shower" come from?
shower British informal
a group of people perceived as incompetent or worthless
I think this term is becoming obsolete. It's certainly not something I've heard in the street recently. The first place I encountered it was the 1959 film I'm Alright Jack.
Major Hitchcock: They're a shower. Absolute shower.
According to wiktionary it comes from shower of shit but there is no justification given.
Solution 1:
No less an authority than Eric Partridge seems to think it probably came from shower of shit. Which is what I usually say on the few occasions I use the expression in any form, though I'd always assumed of shit was a jocular alliteration with some pre-existing meaning of shower.
I don't know for sure if Partridge et al are right, but if they are it puts shower on a par with berk as being more coarse than many speakers realise.
Until I just looked it up there, I'd never come across what he suggests as the "full" original form - shower of shit from Shropshire.
Like berk, shower might not be the latest cool slang, but I think it's in no danger of becoming obsolete. Especially for those who need/want to insult Shropshire folk!
Solution 2:
A little surprisingly, ‘Chambers Slang Dictionary’ gives shower only as Australian slang for a dust-storm. It does, however, have a separate entry for shower of shit with these three definitions:
- an unimpressive group of people; occas. an individual. 2. A pile of second-rate things. 3. A term of abuse aimed at a single person.
As alternatives, the entry also provides these delightful terms: shower of cunts, . . . savages, . . . shites, . . . tom tits, . . . whore’s bastards .