I was brought up to say lavatory as well. Maybe it's a Kent thing.
Actually, I believe it's a U as opposed to non-U thing, and my upbringers went for that stuff.
It is currently 28 Mar 2024, 19:43
Andy Kev. wrote:If you’re a speaker of British English, the use of “bathroom” for “lavatory, toilet, bog” etc. is IMO culturally and linguistically indefensible.
First the cultural aspect: Americans are notoriously prudish about bodily functions and so they had a cultural stimulus to adopt a euphemism. The culturally weaker on this side of the Atlantic adopted it probably because of the Hollywood influence or because of a shared prudery (the British lower middle class is a common source of all that is ludicrous in UK culture). The worst such Americanism of which I have heard is “comfort station”. I think if anybody asks you the way and uses such a ridiculous euphemism, the best response is something along the lines of, “Dunno about that but if you want a p!!s, the bog is over there”.
Langue française > dictionnaire > W.C.
nom masculin
(abréviation de water-closet)
fiveeyes wrote:Lurker wrote:Gentlemen, I give you the very worst recent American import
Bathroom
This statement is daft.
Would you put the 'bath',in the kitchen?
Woodbloke wrote:Andy Kev. wrote:If you’re a speaker of British English, the use of “bathroom” for “lavatory, toilet, bog” etc. is IMO culturally and linguistically indefensible.
First the cultural aspect: Americans are notoriously prudish about bodily functions and so they had a cultural stimulus to adopt a euphemism. The culturally weaker on this side of the Atlantic adopted it probably because of the Hollywood influence or because of a shared prudery (the British lower middle class is a common source of all that is ludicrous in UK culture). The worst such Americanism of which I have heard is “comfort station”. I think if anybody asks you the way and uses such a ridiculous euphemism, the best response is something along the lines of, “Dunno about that but if you want a p!!s, the bog is over there”.
IMO, I reckon we should adopt the Tudor expression, which is what Henry VIII called his khazi...’the House of Easement’ - Rob
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