Re: Lavatories, bathrooms,... Was: Re: Hymn to Ikea

Philippe Caquant scripsit:

> I was very interested by the expression *a public bathroom*.
"Bathroom" is a North American euphemism for "toilet".  This confuses
other anglophones too.  For us "toilet" refers to the actual plumbing
fixture, not the room.

> salle de bains publique*, and I never saw such a thing anywhere.
I have seen rooms with rows and rows of bathtubs at a spa, but not
anywhere else.

> I heard that in the US Army, there are rooms with dozen of holes in
> front, without any separation, so people can shit and talk together
> in the same time, which is certainly quite convenient.
There is however a very strong taboo against speaking to anyone, even
someone you know, in an American men's bathroom.  Exception: if you
are speaking to someone as you come in together, you may continue the
conversation.  This does not at all apply to women's bathrooms!

> In French, there always have been lot of expressions to signify
> 'toilets': looks like we're a little bit ashamed of our physiological
> necessities: les toilettes, les W.C., le petit coin, les lieux, les
> lavatories, les cabinets (seldom used nowadays), etc.
In North American English also:  the men's/ladies' room, the rest room,
the lavatory (but to a plumber, "lavatory" means a sink, and rightly so
etymologically speaking), the (God help us!) "public comfort station".
None of these are applied to rooms in houses, which are always called
bathrooms.  A real-estate agent will describe a bathroom without a
bath or shower as a "half bath", but that term is not used in ordinary
conversation.

--
John Cowan  jcowan@reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan
Female celebrity stalker, on a hot morning in Cairo:
"Imagine, Colonel Lawrence, ninety-two already!"
El Auruns's reply:  "Many happy returns of the day!"

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