Green’s Dictionary of Slang

either make a decision or let someone else do it; esp. as excl.

1939		A. Bessie Men in Battle 198: Now shit or get off the pot.
1947		(con. 1944) J.H. Burns Gallery (1948) 333: Git off the pot, Mister Dupont.
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 694: Thats how Gilbert put it up to me. I either got to shit or get off the pot.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 67: For Chrissake, Jones, get off the pot.
1962		T. Berger Reinhart in Love (1963) 130: Come on, shit or get off the pot!
1965		J. Thompson Texas by the Tail (1994) 4: Shoot, for Christ’s sake! Crap or get off the hole!
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 59: Pepper was too fast [...] for me. I had to make her shit or get off the pot.
1973		G.V. Higgins Digger’s Game (1981) 104: You either gotta shit or get offa the fuckin’ pot.
1977		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Black Gangster (1991) 167: I know I got to get off the pot or shit.
1979		S. King Dead Zone (1980) 36: ‘Shit or git,’ one of the roustabouts said.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 148: In my room I hemmed and hawed, worried and fretted. It was time to shit or get off the pot.
1985		(con. 1968) D.A. Dye Citadel (1989) 211: Got to either shit or get off the pot here.
1986–7		Maledicta IX 160: One is occasionally admonished to shit or get off the pot (produce results or get your finger out, or make up your mind).
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 131: I’m comin’ as soon as this guy decides whether to shit or get off the pot.
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 102: Get on the case, Flood, or get off the pot.
2004		N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 96: If someone calls your bluff, you have to shit or get off the pot.
2007		S. Maloney Sucked In 213: Thorsen’s offer [...] had fanned the few slumbering embers of my ambition into life [...] It was shit or get off the pot, I’d decided.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 21: Time to get serious. Shit or get off the pot.
2019		M. Herron Joe Country [ebook] ‘I hate indecisive types, don’t you? Shit or get off the pot’.
2023		J. Haddo Twitter 31 Mar. 🌐 either shit or get off the potty, see ya!