Re: asking for the bathroom

On Wed, 30 May 2001, Sally Caves wrote:

>"Wade, Guy" wrote:
>>
>> I will just have to be a bystander for this.  It sounds fascinating, but at
>> this time I can't even ask the way to the bathroom in my lang!
>
>LOL!  Let's see, Teonaht:  Kwa'r perva li ... bav memwot?
>
>I just asked for the water room.  I can't believe that I have no word
>for toilet in Teonaht.  And then all the politeness conventions.  You
>can't just baldly say "where's the shit stool?"  There have to be
>circumlocutions, idioms, metaphors.  Any suggestions or conlang
>examples?
"Alound li tuileith?" or "Alound li lou?" In Kerno. In town, anyway.
Elsewhere, "Alound li casini?". Il tuileth derives (surprise,
surprise) from Brithenig, and without any mangling! Not sure where
la lou comes from, though popular etymomythology would have it from
French "gardez l'eau". Yuck. La casina is the 'little hut' or
out-house. There's also il soubuckettes, the "underbucket" which of
course is the gazunder, or piss pot. As you might suspect, plumbing
is not exactly ubiquitious! Il veysey or la uaters are polite
alternatives for il tuileth. [Tuileth refers both to the porcelain
altar and the temple it resides in.]

Padraic.

>;-)
>
>Sally