<div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">=========================================================================<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 18 June 2008 - Volume 01<br style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe"><span class="EP8xU" style="color: rgb(200, 137, 0);">Fred van Brederode</span> <span class="lDACoc"><<a href="mailto:f.vanbrederode@home.nl">f.vanbrederode@home.nl</a>></span></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe">LL-L "Etymology" 2008.06.15 (04) [D/E]<br></span><p style="margin-left: 35.4pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<font color="navy" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;" lang="EN-GB">Ron you wrote:</span></font><font color="black"><span style="color: black;" lang="EN-GB"><br>
In American English, "to go to the bathroom" is used so commonly that
it no longer needs to refer to a trip or visit but can refer to the actual act
of excretion; such as in "I'm sick and tired of the neighbor's dog going
to the bathroom on our front lawn" or "Little Billie went to the
bathroom in the swimming pool."<br>
<br>
</span></font><font color="navy"><span style="color: navy;" lang="EN-GB"></span></font></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><font color="navy" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-GB">This brings back a story from my early twenties when I
worked as a counsellor in a US summer camp in Pennsylvania. We were in a division
(it was a large camp) for ages 6-12. During the evenings we took turns for OD
(on duty). It so happened that my turn came pretty soon. The section of camp
that I "OD-ed" consisted of several small wooden bunks, each one housing about
12 boys. The OD had a seat at a table in front of one. The table was conveniently
situated under a lamppost so we could read.</span></font></span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><font color="navy" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-GB">All of a sudden there was a shouting coming from one of
the bunks: "ODEE, ODEE". I immediately got up, aware of my duty I entered the
bunk. "What is the matter?" I said. One of the boys answered out of the dark: "I
need to go to the bathroom". I had no idea what this actually meant, I felt rather
disturbed in my reading activities. So I said out of sincere astonishment: "why
is that, all you guys just had a shower?" Camp rule made it clear to shower
before going to bed. The other boys came to his assist: "please OD he really
needs to". The bathroom was outside the bunk, which was quite a nuisance.
Nevertheless I quickly figured out that it was best to let the boy go, whatever
he needed to go to the bathroom for. </span></font></span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><font color="navy" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-GB">It was until I told my American fellow counsellors
about the incident that I found out what "going to the bathroom" means for an
American. </span></font></span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><font color="navy" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-GB">The camp I was in had many overseas counsellors, most
of them from Britain. For reasons of convenience I was soon enlisted by the
British. I gratefully joined them in laughing about the silly American accent
and expressions. The bathroom was one of them. I remember that we were
astonished once again by the word "restroom". Someone had read in a leaflet that
long distance busses in the US had small restrooms. What a great service, the
bus company provides us with a room where you can lay down on a long journey. Again
the misunderstanding did not last long. The astonishment stayed: Americans say
anything to avoid the word toilet.</span></font></span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><font color="navy" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-GB">Probably very old as well, but I noticed it only
recently: "half bathroom" in a real estate add. Yes anything but the t-word.</span></font></span></p>
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font color="navy" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Groetjes,<span> </span>Fred van Brederode</span></font></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
From: R. F. Hahn <</span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">></span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Subject: Idiomatica<br><br>Thanks a lot, Fred.<br><br>There are lots and lots of such stories, especially about Americans being directed to bathrooms without toilets or to rooms with daybeds or couches.<br><br>Actually, many US Americans do use the word "toilet," but with a different meaning: the actual toilet "throne" inside the ... bathroom or "half bathroom." The room itself is not called "toilet" by most Americans. However, some people avoid "toilet" in this sense as well ans say "commode" instead (e.g. There's a sink and a commode in the half bathroom").<br>
<br>The polite US American word for the room in which a toilet is found tends to be "bathroom" if it is in a private home and "restroom" if it is a public facility. In Canada I see and hear mostly "washroom" used. In old-fashioned, posh American restrooms, such as in theaters, you still find anterooms with couches and easy chairs for resting, at least in women's restrooms. So there is a connection. Many of these even have things like shoe-polishing machines, and some men's versions still have full-length mirrors next to their exits, some of which have attached to them signs saying things like "Gentlemen, for your convenience" or "Gentlemen, your attire" to give you a last chance to "batten down the hatch," if you catch my meaning! So we are talking about vestiges of Belle Époque comfort here, not something to summarize coarsely. <br>
<br>So, when US Americans and Canadians travel to other countries, signs saying "toilets" or some recognizable cognates of it seem a bit crass or simply strange because they associate with it not rooms but what is installed there. But of course Canadians are far more exposed to non-American English and thus don't miss a beat when they hear "toilets." They are also more likely to switch to using the word "toilet" themselves once they arrive in Britain for instance.<br>
<br>Regards,<br>Reinhard/Ron</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">