Concrete and Piss

JaneD Nov 11, 2014:

An aside What a wonderfully evocative phrase, though!

Charles Davis Nov 11, 2014:

Agree It's a phrase used now and then in the UK to evoke the urban wilderness of ugly, alienating concrete tower blocks (high-rise, low-quality public-sector housing) where people urinate in the stairwells, there's graffiti everywhere and drug dealers and muggers lurk in dark corners.

The very entertaining comedian and journalist Charlie Brooker suggested it as an imaginary title for a "gritty" documentary on Channel 4 (a UK TV channel known for socially-committed programming):
http://books.google.es/books?id=BUNTFPJTd2sC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA2...

Tony M Nov 11, 2014:

Not really! It sounds like a metonymic description of a hard environment — for example, 'inner city' high-rise housing estates that are a barren environment of concrete, with subways etc. that stink of urine. Or many other similar environments...

I personally am unaware of any other more specific cultural reference. But it is a concise and powerful image that conjures up an immediate emotional response in me, evoking a world that I would rather avoid...