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

 --- John Cowan <cowan@...> wrote: > 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.
Well, here 'toilet' isn't used of a room with more
than just a toilet in it (except of public toilets,
which of course have taps and urinals and whatnot).
Though of course if you want to relieve yourself, you
ask for a toilet; asking for a bathroom could send you
further than you had to, and you might have to
discover whether a door near the bathroom was the door
to the toilet or say a cupboard.

> > 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've seen 'em at shops that sell baths :)

> > 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.
Ah! I presume _les lieux_ is the source of 'the loo',
then? (WC is mostly used here by real estate
agents/architects to refer to toilet-rooms.) 'Toilet'
can, however, be used without concern in most cases.
Only 'toilet' and 'loo' are in my active vocab, I
think.

PC:
> > As to trolleys, we call them *chariots* or
> > *caddies*,
> > but that's dangerous too, because Caddie (R) is a
> > registered appellation, and there are people in
> > Caddie
> > (R) firm whose sole occupation is to find out
> > people
> > using this name without mentioning that is is
> > registered, and let them be fined. Nice job
It's my humble opinion that words that that happens to
should be given over to the public domain. When I ask
for gladwrap, bandaids or coke, I'm not desiring
products by Glad, Johnson & Johnson (or however it's
spelt) or the Coca-Cola Company, but rather a clear
plastic food-wrap-film, something to cover a wound, or
cola.

--
Tristan

--

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