<div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">=========================================================================<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 21 June 2008 - Volume 02<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(121, 6, 25);">Sandy Fleming</span> <span class="lDACoc"><<a href="mailto:sandy@scotstext.org">sandy@scotstext.org</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 "Idiomatica" 2008.06.20 (06) [E]</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">When I was growing up in Scotland the toilet was normally referred to as</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
the "bathroom".</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
"Toilet" was considered posh and only used when visiting people and</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
places you didn't know very well.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
"Lavvy" was also quite normal though considered a bit crude.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
As schoolboys we would normally refer to it as "the bog", though of</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
course there were other expressions such as "the shitehoose" and "the</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
wee hoose" ("wee" here meaning "little", so it's actually a cute</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
euphemism).</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
British Sign Language also has large numbers of signs for toilet, from</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
the transparent to the obscure. These are important signs because it's</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
not usual for a Deaf person to walk off without saying where they're</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
going: you can't call after them to find out, after all.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Signs that mime (though mime is stylised in sign languages):</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
o pulling a chain on a cistern;</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
o turning a handle on a cistern;</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
o pushing a button on a cistern;</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
o washing hands;</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
(now I'm thinking, what a strange word, "cistern", where does that come</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
from?!)</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
and those that are more abstract:</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
o holding flat hand vertically and tapping the index finger edge</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
against the right cheek (if it's the right hand), twice: obscure but</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
looks like it might be a variant of the sign for "private" or else</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
"call";</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
o extending middle finger from wrist and rubbing it against chest</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
near opposite shoulder: I've no idea where this comes from;</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
o fingerspelling "TT";</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
You can of course get rude and just sign "piddle" and suchlike.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
In German Sign Language (do they have a separate sign language which</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
could be called "Low Saxon Sign Language" I wonder, or is it the same</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
thing?) I've seen two:</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
o shaking a telephone receiver at the side of the head while</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
mouthing "shhh" (this strikes us British as a very strange and</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
intriguing sign indeed!);</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
o holding up the hand with the index finger and thumb curved and</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
the other fingers fanned so that it displays the letters "WC" on a</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
single hand.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" color="#888888"><br>
Sandy Fleming<br>
<a href="http://scotstext.org/" target="_blank">http://scotstext.org/</a><br>
</font><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">----------</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: R. F. Hahn <</span><a style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: Idiomatica<br><br>Hi, Sandy!<br><br>This is all interesting stuff. You wrote about German signing for "toilet":<br><br></span><div style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
o shaking a telephone receiver at the side of the head while</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
mouthing "shhh" (this strikes us British as a very strange and</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
intriguing sign indeed!);</span><br></div>
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br>My immediate reaction to this description was that it means "Someone is calling me (on the phone) ... but not really, you know." Of course, we need to remind the youngsters among us that all telephones used to have landlines and were in certain rooms of houses (typically hallways), so that people usually had to leave to make or receive calls. The shaking receiver sign may mean "ringing telephone". The "shhh" sign may be a classifier for "taboo replacement" (saying it in place of something that ought not be said). I have no idea if any of this is factual. All I can say is that the sign didn't seem strange to me when I read your description. It would be interesting to see if the "shhh" sign is used for other euphemisms as well.<br>
<br>Aside from this, let <br><br></span><div style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
As schoolboys we would normally refer to it as "the bog", though of</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
course there were other expressions such as "the shitehoose" and "the</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
wee hoose" ("wee" here meaning "little", so it's actually a cute</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
euphemism).</span><br></div>
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br>I heard "bog" in this sense used in Australia, and it seemed similarly coarse.<br><br>Scots <i>shitehoose</i> [ˈʃəɪthus] would be very well understood by Low Saxon speakers, for their language has a similar sounding cognate: <i>schythuus</i> (<i>Schiethuus</i> [ˈʃiːthuːs]), plural <i>schythuys'</i> (<i>Schiethüüs'</i> [ˈʃiːthyːˑz]).<br>
<br>There's another choice in Low Saxon: <i>Pardemang</i> [ˌpʰaːdeˈmaˑŋ(k)] ~ <i>Paddemang</i> [ˌpʰadeˈmaˑŋ(k)] ~ <i>Parremang</i> [ˌpʰaˑreˈmaˑŋ(k)]. Obviously, this one comes from French <i>appartement</i> which carries the basic sense of "separate quarter(s)".<br>
<br>Regards,<br>Reinhard/Ron<br><br></span>