Two other countries separated by a common language

[Joel S. Berson]

Doesn't anyone ask for the "Men's Room" or
"Ladies' Room" for public facilities any
more?  It's what I see on the doors in the U.S.

Joel

At 10/1/2007 10:46 AM, you wrote:
>If anyone's interested in more stories of international toilet
>misunderstandings, I covered the toilet/bathroom/restroom/WC (etc.) issue
>on Separated by a Common Language:
>
><http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/03/toilet.html>
>
>Lynne
>
>--On Sunday, September 30, 2007 8:10 pm -0400 Laurence Horn
><laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>
>>At 5:19 PM -0400 9/30/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>>At a party in Amsterdam, I once asked my host where the bathroom was.
>>>He graciously pointed it out to me. (We'd all been drinking quite a
>>>bit, so the alcohol probably prevented him from noticing any strange
>>>about such a request in the middle of a party.) I went there and, sure
>>>enough, I found myself in the bathroom. However, my intention was to
>>>take not a bath, but a leak. The second request got through my host's
>>>alcoholic haze and he realized that what I mean was the
>>>borrowed-from-BrE W[ater]C[loset], pronounced approximately "way say"
>>>in Dutch of the "Seventies.
>>>
>>>-Wilson
>>
>>An anecdote along the same lines:
>>During my first week in Paris on my junior year
>>abroad in '63, with my many years of grade
>>school, high school, and college French under my
>>belt, I found myself in a subway station with the
>>compelling need to inquire of someone "Où est la
>>salle de bains?"  This was met with incredulous
>>derision:  "Une salle de bains dans le métro?!?"
>>Finally someone took pity on me and pointed out
>>the relevant door with "W.C." on it.  I
>>eventually learned that I should have asked for
>>"la toilette", although [dubl at vese] would have
>>done the job as well.
>>
>>LH
>>
>>>
>>>On 9/30/07, Doug Harris <cats22 at frontiernet.net> wrote:
>>>>  ---------------------- Information from the
>>>>mail header -----------------------
>>>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>  Poster:       Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
>>>>  Subject:      Re: Two other countries separated by a common language
>>>>
>>>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>--------
>>>>
>>>>  As well they might (ask that question). As, similarly,
>>>>  they are inclined to ask for "bathrooms" when having
>>>>  no intention whatsoever of bathing, being befuddled by
>>>>  getting French fries as part of their fish and chips
>>>>  order, and pondering where locals are going when they
>>>>  announce, as some sometimes do, they're going to the
>>>>  _loo_. (Less frequently, these days, or so I'd imagine,
>>>>  the loo-bound might note s/he is going "to spend a
>>>>  penny", a once-common phrase reflecting a long-gone day
>>>>  when that was the price of admission to a "public
>>>>  convenience".
>>>>  (the other) doug
>>>>
>>>>  ---
>>>>
>>>>  LOL. Doug Harris said something to a similar effect. I was of course
>>>>  simply inventing a sentence that I thought a tourist might ask. BB
>>>>
>>>>  Paul Johnston wrote:
>>>>  > Assuming they'd know what a subway station is.  A subway is an
>>>>  > underpass over a road, though "Tube/Underground station" would be
>>>>  > fine. As someone who did use to ask questions like that, I usually
>>>>  > got my questions answered as i would here, but sometimes preceded by
>>>>  > a repetition.  "The Tube Station?  Oh, you'll have to go down
>>>>  > Rellingford Road to get there."
>>>>  >
>>>>  > Paul Johnston
>>>>  > On Sep 29, 2007, at 3:04 AM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>>>>  >
>>>>  >>
>>>>  >> I have heard that in England questions such as "Do you know where
>>>>  >> the subway station is?" are considered yes/no. Is this the same
>>>>  >> issue? BB
>>>>  >>
>>>>
>>>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>>>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>>-----
>>>                                               -Sam'l Clemens
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
>Dr M Lynne Murphy
>Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and English Language
>Arts B135
>University of Sussex
>Brighton BN1 9QN
>
>phone: +44-(0)1273-678844
>http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org