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

From:Tristan McLeay <kesuari@...>
Date:Friday, February 27, 2004, 13:34
 --- 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 -- Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies. http://au.movies.yahoo.com

Replies

Peter Bleackley <peter.bleackley@...>
John Cowan <cowan@...>
Philippe Caquant <herodote92@...>