does the Pope shit in the woods

does the Pope shit in the woods

English

Etymology

A combination of the two rhetorical questions is the Pope Catholic? and does a bear shit in the woods?

Pronunciation

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Phrase

does the Pope shit in the woods?

1. (idiomatic, humorous, vulgar) Rhetorical question in response to a question where the answer is an emphatic yes.
   • 2009, Iris Rainer Dart, Til the Real Thing Comes Along, Grand Central Publishing, →ISBN:

     "You still interested in a writing job?" he asked. [...] Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear shit in the woods? Or, as one of the guys had said a few weeks before, Does the Pope shit in the woods? A writing job. “Yeah,” was all she could say.

   • 2009, James R. Vance, Killer Butterfly, The eBook Sale (→ISBN), page 233:

     "I asked her if she would like a coffee. She turned round, smiled and said: 'Does the Pope shit in the woods?' The wife was aghast. Of course I got the blame!”

   • 2014, John Byrne, "Rapt In an Enigma" - "A True-life Tale of the Paranormal Unlike Any You Have Read Before", Lulu Press, Inc, →ISBN:

     "[...] do you understand that last point about combining two jokes together?" [...] I almost replied 'Does a bear shit in the woods?' but then I [...] saw the chance to answer in a way that would show I understood them perfectly. "Does the pope shit in the woods?" There was a huge round of applause from the invisible audience, in fact it wasn't just a round of applause, ...

2. (colloquial, idiomatic, humorous, vulgar) Rhetorical question in response to a question where the answer is an emphatic no.
   • 2007, George R. R. Martin, The Armageddon Rag: A Novel, Bantam, →ISBN, page 200:

     "You won't print it?" Sandy said with iron certainty.
     "Does the pope shit in the woods?" Jared said. "Fuck no, we won't print it."

   • 2014, George R. R. Martin, "Under Siege", in Ann VanderMeer, Jeff VanderMeer, The Time Traveler's Almanac, Macmillan (→ISBN), page 322:

     "Hey, Dex," I say as I come wheeling up, "screw this shit, let's us go party, I want to see lil' Ronnie." He just looks at me, shakes his head. "C'mon," I say. I bat my baby-blues at him. Does he let me by? Does the Pope shit in the woods? Hell no, old Dox says, "I got my orders, you stay right here."

Synonyms

• does a bear shit in the Pope's hat?
• do fish swim?
• is the Pope Catholic?
• does the Pope wear a funny hat?

Antonyms

• is the Pope Jewish?
• is the Pope a Muslim?