Why would one go to a “bathroom” to take a shit? Do North Americans shit in the bath when the rest of us crap in toilets?
Wtf is a “date”? One of those middle eastern delicacies? The rest of the world just fornicate/shag/add your own euphemism. “Date” just sounds so pre-teen.
I read a book a while ago that claimed that American English is closer to “correct” English than that spoken in the UK at the moment. Thoughts?
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What do you call it, ‘the shit room?’
Maybe North Americans have good etiquette and prefer not to make mention of the fact that they need the smallest room.
It’s comforting to know that people continue to spread stupid intolerances on a daily basis.
American things I particularly like: The Jazz Age, New York, Katharine Hepburn, Seattle Sonics (r.i.p.), Waldorf salads, Tom and Jerry, Roscoe Koontz and Lucky Strike’s.
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No, I call it the toilet, because I don’t bath in it.
Etiquette? :roflmao:
No, I call it the toilet, because I don’t bath in it.
Etiquette? :roflmao:[/quote]
What do you do if the ‘room’ contains both a bath and toilet? Should one ask: ‘Where can I leave my excrement?’
[quote=“TomHill”]
American things I particularly like: The Jazz Age, New York, Katharine Hepburn, Seattle Sonics (r.i.p.), Waldorf salads, Tom and Jerry, Roscoe Koontz and Lucky Strike’s.[/quote]
I love many American “things”. Was speaking about American semantics, not Americans.
[quote=“TomHill”]
What do you do if the ‘room’ contains both a bath and toilet? Should one ask: ‘Where can I leave my excrement?’[/quote]
I’m reminded of Borat. 
[quote=“jimipresley”][quote=“TomHill”]
Was speaking about American semantics, not Americans.[/quote][/quote]
Pretty thin Saturday then huh? The correct language is: Excuse me, I wish to use a room which contains a toilet.
Nice to have you back, Mr Hill. I missed you. :America: How was Ibiza?
I’m going back out again now though. Got to run the shit out of Bushy Park.
You call it the toilet because you toil in it?
I refuse, in Oxford, to stop speaking the slightly mangled transatlantic Engnese I developed in Taiwan.
No, I call it the toilet, because I don’t bath in it.
Etiquette? :roflmao:[/quote]
Because when people say “toilet”, they think of a stinky porcelain bowl into which pee and poo are deposited. And this makes people go “Eeewwwww!”
“Bathroom” is a euphemism, stemming from the fact that the room which contains a bathtub tends to also contain a toilet.
And “to go to the bathroom” means “to pee” and/or “to poo”. “Hey, your kid’s going to the bathroom in the swimming pool!”
No, I call it the toilet, because I don’t bath in it.
Etiquette? :roflmao:[/quote]
Because when people say “toilet”, they think of a stinky porcelain bowl into which pee and poo are deposited. And this makes people go “Eeewwwww!”
“Bathroom” is a euphemism, stemming from the fact that the room which contains a bathtub tends to also contain a toilet.
And “to go to the bathroom” means “to pee” and/or “to poo”. “Hey, your kid’s going to the bathroom in the swimming pool!”[/quote]
So North Americans are more cultured than Europeans. Also more accommodating to the sensibilities of their peers. Live and learn!
What about Water Closet? What the hell does that come from? Closet sounds very cramped and not too appealing to do your business in. Then add the water to it and I just imagine sitting in a tiny damp room with water being poured over me while I do a “number 2.”
Or how about:
the lieu
the john
the shitter
the throne
restroom
little boys room
[quote=“occhimarroni”]What about Water Closet? What the hell does that come from? Closet sounds very cramped and not too appealing to do your business in. Then add the water to it and I just imagine sitting in a tiny damp room with water being poured over me while I do a “number 2.”
Or how about:
the lieu
the john
the shitter
the throne
restroom
little boys room[/quote]
Those are all American, apart from “The Loo” which I think originates from “Water-Loo”. Most are obvious, but does anyone know the origin of “The John”?
Funny thing: “toilet” used to refer to a dressing room, before itself becoming a euphemism for the chamber pot.
As for “loo”, I’ve heard it comes from the warning cry “Gardez l’eau!” (Look out for the water!) as people emptied their chamber pots into the street.
Heh. French too. Much to the chagrin of the Brits!
Mr Urodacus?
From the OED:
john (With lower-case initial.) A lavatory, water-closet. slang (chiefly U.S.).
[1735 Harvard Laws in W. Bentinck-Smith Harvard Bk. (1953) 146 No freshman shall mingo against the College wall or go into the fellows’ cuzjohn.] 1932 Amer. Speech VII. 333 John, johnny, a lavatory. 1946 ‘J. EVANS’ Halo in Blood xvi. 181, I…made a brief visit to the john. 1959 C. MACINNES Absolute Beginners 54 ‘You poor old bastard,’ I said to the Hoplite, as he sat there on my john. 1972 Last Whole Earth Catalog (Portola Inst.) 247/3 Every time you take a dump or a leak in a standard john, you flush five gallons of water out with your piddle. 1973 Black World June 19 They gave me my Status Symbol The key to the white Locked John.
[quote=“jimipresley”].
I read a book a while ago that claimed that American English is closer to “correct” English than that spoken in the UK at the moment. Thoughts?[/quote]
Melvyn Bragg in ‘The adventure of English’ claimed this too. Awful words like ‘gotten’ are apparently more correct English and were used in England, but some how fell out of use. In Oz I hear people use this all the time, although I’d never use it myself, being English.
I wonder if kids in England today use ‘gotten’?
I wish I had the book to hand I could have got a direct quote.
Very interesting book by the way.
L
I’ve heard that the varieties of English spoken in some remote Appalachian regions and on certain islands off the east coast of the US are much closer to Elizabethan English than anywhere else in the world.
Yes, it’s true. Sounds of American English (and also northern English) are closer to the English of Shakespeare’s time because there has been less phonological change and outside influence on American than English: languages change (to a certain extent) through contact with other languages. So it’s more ‘authentic’ for Americans to read the plays than Brits. Dialects and accents are a manifestation of prestige: you never hear Lear in Scouse, sadly, because it’s deemed ‘non-standard’ for the English cultural arbiters.