OT:Heard on American Dad: daughter Hayley singing a song about...

[David Bowie]

From:    ronbutters at AOL.COM

> I was taught "WC" In my first semester of French at University of
> Iowa. I would never have said "Salle de bains."...

Just like in my first or second year of high school German, i learned
that the words for that room are 'Toilette' and 'WC' [ve.tse]. (I
didn't learn 'Klo' until i lived in Germany.) These things are in the
most basic of tourist survival phrasebooks, too--there's really no
excuse for saying 'Badezimmer' for such a room (though there is a room
by that name--it contains a shower or tub, and may or may not include
a toilet).

<snip>

> I have noticed than many speakers in the upper midwest emulate
> Canadians and say "washroom" even when their primary goal is not to
> wash up.


Not just midwesterners (my Southern Maryland self uses 'washroom'),
and not just emulating Canadians (i was raised to use the term by my
Southern Maryland mother, who found 'bathroom' indelicate, if not
utterly inappropriate for polite company).

<snip>

David Bowie

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