a possibly minority position

[Meredig, John]

All this toilet talk reminds me of all the amusement I caused for my German friends many years ago when I told them: Ich muss ins Klo. The room vs. the fixture can indeed be an important distinction.

John Meredig  

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of William Ryan
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 8:17 PM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] a possibly minority position

In British English the toilet unit itself is called, in a hardware catalogue, a 'toilet pan' (hence the expression 'down the pan' = gone to waste, ruined) or sometimes 'toilet pedestal', or just 'toilet', and this is indeed the Russian 'unitaz' (from the British brand name Unitas, c. 1870 - I have seen several with this trade mark in older Russian houses). But 'toilet' is vague and can also be a room or whole edifice, e.g. a public toilet.

British and American euphemisms in this area differ a good deal and can be a source of embarrassing international misunderstanding. I remember, as a young student still unfamiliar with US English, being accosted by an elderly American lady in the Bodleian Library in Oxford who asked me if I could direct her to 'the little girl's room' (I am not sure where the apostrophe goes). I was genuinely puzzled by this and unable to help her.

Will Ryan


Paul B. Gallagher wrote:
> Alina Israeli wrote:
>
>> Tualet in Russian was borrowed from French and it means 1. a garment,  
>> usually a fancy ensemble; 2. taking care of one's appearance  
>> (zanimat'sja svoim tualetom); 3. a table with a mirror; 4. (finally  
>> the euphemistic) bathroom.
>>
>> The English toilet would be translated as unitaz.
>
> When we need to disambiguate, an унитаз is called a "commode." This 
> word can only refer to the fixture, never to the room. "Toilet" is 
> ambiguous, at least in American English. It can even be a verb (!).
>

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