I heard this term at a presentation today and found it quite funny. It means your rectum is attached to your eyes, thus giving you a lousy attitude. There is apparently a similar adjective: "rectumnalretinal" outlook.
Whoever derived the term didn't know his medical terminology. "Retinitis" is inflammation of the retina, not an attachment of the retina. Oh well; it's still funny. I think too literally, I guess.
In my neck of the woods "he's got eyes up his arse" wouldn't refer to attitude but to the way that he sees everything and is essentially saying "you won't get away with anything if he's around".
It's a coarser version of "eyes in the back of his head".This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
Then of course we've the saying, "to have one's head up one's arse" meaning "to spend so much time thinking about yourself that you have no time to think about other more important things". See http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/have+head+up+arse
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
