What cheeses me off

[MARTINE]

What cheeses me off?

Uptake of Americanisms. Cookies and the one I loathe in particular “bathroom”.

What is wrong with dunny, bog, toilet, latrine, water closet (wc), outhouse, thunderbox, lavatory or loo? sigh.

How Americanisms are killing the English language

A book released this year claims that Americanisms will have completely absorbed the English language by 2120. Hephzibah Anderson takes a look.

www.bbc.com

Halloween… Black Friday…Cyber Monday.. speak your truth..

 

[Forg]

What cheeses me off?

Uptake of Americanisms. Cookies and the one I loathe in particular “bathroom”.

“I’m going to the bathroom”
”Jeez, please don’t cough in my bath!”

 

[Pushka]

What cheeses me off?

Uptake of Americanisms. Cookies and the one I loathe in particular “bathroom”.

What is wrong with dunny, bog, toilet, latrine, water closet (wc), outhouse, thunderbox, lavatory or loo? sigh.

How Americanisms are killing the English language

A book released this year claims that Americanisms will have completely absorbed the English language by 2120. Hephzibah Anderson takes a look.

www.bbc.com

I've always used the word bathroom and had no American influence in my early days

 

[Pushka]

I've always used the word bathroom and had no American influence in my early days

Well, I'd sure never use words like bog, dunny, thunderbox, latrine or closet. I'd have thought closet was an Americanism.

 

[drron]

Though I have been as dry as a dead dingo's donga.

 

[mrsterryn]

Outback at my grandparents place about sixty years ago. They used to have the man clear it out
Mostly 'loo' is what I say or going to the toilet

 

[Cossie]

Outback at my grandparents place about sixty years ago. They used to have the man clear it out
Mostly 'loo' is what I say or going to the toilet

That and dunny are the words I tend to use. Her indoors, being North American says it’s because most toilets are with the bath/shower and very rarely separate like here.

 

[Lynda2475]

It is rare here is Aus for the toliet to be in a separate room from the Shower/Bath now too. It was common in home built in 70s of earlier, but since the 80s most new builds have the toilet in the bathroom.

If at the offie Id say going to the Ladies or toilet, but when at home where the toilet is in the bathroom, nothng wrong with saying you are going to the bathroom.

Also IME most american would say they are going to the "restroom" not bathroom. In shopping centres there the signage is always restroom - which no one uses here, our shopping centres say toilet.

Dunny is crude and again only applies to outdoor toilet, Id never use the term nor the facility.

Closet is defnitely american, in Aus its a wardrobe.

And cookies are a subcategory of biscuit. All cookies are biscuits but not all biscuits are cookies.

 

[Cossie]

Each to their own, we stayed at a camping site in BC, Canada and I asked where the dunny was and one of the camp owners knew exactly what I meant, probably because she was originally from NZ.
Me and her have discussed this many times, she said that from what she remembers, all her friends in Vancouver call it a bathroom if at home, and a restroom if in a mall for example.

For those interested, some good information here and their explanation of a Water Closet. It isn’t just ‘closet’ it is a ‘water closet’. I would never use closet, unless I was coming out!
I have been known to use WC though.

Made an oopsy in Sweden once, the loos were seperate in a restaurant and one was partially open and all I saw was men. Got a weird look from a lady when I exited, I had missed the ‘Da’ part at the front of men. Dare say I’m not the first to make that mistake.

What are Some Alternative Words for Toilet and Where do they Come From?

The toilet has many names all around the world that people have picked up and started using. Have a look at the list to see if you use any of them!

www.plumbworld.co.uk

Maybe it needs it’s own thread, only joking, please don’t!

 

[drron]

Though you have to be careful what you say to Americans. One couple who were good friends with Mrsdrron's sister and husband came out to Australia. We were asked to dinner with them. They asked what we did on the weekends and I said we just mucked about in the back yard. you should have seen the looks we got.

 

[RooFlyer]

It is rare here is Aus for the toliet to be in a separate room from the Shower/Bath now too. It was common in home built in 70s of earlier, but since the 80s most new builds have the toilet in the bathroom.

Not my experience. Most modern places I know ( including mine) have a separate toilet with basin for guests to use, or for general 'convenience' downstairs if the bedrooms/ bathrooms are all upstairs, or close to outside entertainment areas.

but what’s cheesing me off right now is the young bloke in the bar across from me who is using the F Word about every third word without any regard to the families around him. I’m about to go over and tell him to quietly button it.

 

[AIRwin]

but what’s cheesing me off right now is the young bloke in the bar across from me who is using the F Word about every third word without any regard to the families around him. I’m about to go over and tell him to quietly button it.

Not the F lounge?

 

[RooFlyer]

Not the F lounge?

. holiday inn express at Melbourne Airport. I’ve just arrived back from Egypt.

So I went over to him and politely asked him to quiten down a bit because of the families around. He gave me a bit of lip back so then I quietly but forcefully opened up back on at him. I used to be in the mining game remember so I reckon I knew a few more choice words than he did.

He did settle down.

 

[Hvr]

Outback at my grandparents place about sixty years ago. They used to have the man clear it out

I seem to remember that man had a flat hat. I remember using the outdoor dunny and you were always careful not to fall in, or drop anything in it. Can't image the kids today taking their phones in there.

And the phone book was recycled, now it's but a memory.

 

[p--and--t]

It is rare here is Aus for the toliet to be in a separate room from the Shower/Bath now too. It was common in home built in 70s of earlier, but since the 80s most new builds have the toilet in the bathroom.

If at the offie Id say going to the Ladies or toilet, but when at home where the toilet is in the bathroom, nothng wrong with saying you are going to the bathroom.

Also IME most american would say they are going to the "restroom" not bathroom. In shopping centres there the signage is always restroom - which no one uses here, our shopping centres say toilet.

Dunny is crude and again only applies to outdoor toilet, Id never use the term nor the facility.

Closet is defnitely american, in Aus its a wardrobe.

And cookies are a subcategory of biscuit. All cookies are biscuits but not all biscuits are cookies.

Actually "closet" is an abbreviation of "water closet" which is a British term

 

[Forg]

Actually "closet" is an abbreviation of "water closet" which is a British term

Architectural diagrams here use WC for a dunny, too.

 

[Lynda2475]

Actually "closet" is an abbreviation of "water closet" which is a British term

Disagree WC is the abbreviation of Water Closet and not used in the US. In todays usage a closet is a wardrobe, in middle english it was a small room. Term predates WC and derives from the French for closed.

 

[jastel]

Keeping with the toilet theme is grown American (mainly) adults saying they are "Going Potty"

 

[p--and--t]

Disagree WC is the abbreviation of Water Closet and not used in the US. In todays usage a closet is a wardrobe, in middle english it was a small room. Term predates WC and derives from the French for closed.

water closet - Wiktionary

en.wiktionary.org

 

[TheRealTMA]

Disagree WC is the abbreviation of Water Closet and not used in the US. In todays usage a closet is a wardrobe, in middle english it was a small room. Term predates WC and derives from the French for closed.

Don’t agree with that. It requires water. It’s an english term arising from the invention of Mr Alexander coughming.