[Magdalen] Happy Christmas

Jay Weigel jay.weigel at gmail.com
Wed Dec 28 15:22:50 UTC 2016


In Spanish, it's generally "el baño" (from "cuarto de baño", literally
"bathroom"), but my father, who had done much of his PhD research in Baja
California, had brought home the localism "excusado", so that was the term
we used in my family of origin for bathroom. An outhouse was an "excusado
fresco" which he said was the local term there although "al fresco" would
have been correct.

On Wed, Dec 28, 2016 at 10:08 AM, <sally.davies at gmail.com> wrote:

> In South Africa that is a "Long Drop". I recall having to use one as a
> child at some campsite or other - I was terrified. The seat was a plank
> with a hole cut in it, over a cesspit that managed to be both far too deep
> and not nearly deep enough at the same time.
>
> Friends in Australia had the composting version installed in their home (in
> rural area outside Canberra).
>
> Generally here a toilet is a "loo" but "bog" is also heard occasionally.
>
> Sally D
>
>
> On Wed, 28 Dec 2016 at 4:25 PM Lesley de Voil <lesleymdv at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > She must have been a Kiwi.. Aussie slang for bathroom/toilet/ etc is
> > "dunny" usually implying an outhouse EC(Earth Closet.). Roadside rest
> stops
> > are now often supplied with the modern version of the latter - a
> composting
> > toilet often solar-powered, so that water for washing,  a light for use
> > after dark and fan for the composter all can be supplied.
> >
> > Never heard "biffy" in the eastern states.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Lesley de Voil
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > From: "Grace Cangialosi" <gracecan at gmail.com>
> >
> > Sent: ‎29/‎12/‎2016 0:11
> >
> > To: "magdalen at herberthouse.org" <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
> >
> > Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Happy Christmas
> >
> >
> >
> > Lynn, I haven't heard that word for years, but the director of a girls'
> > church camp in Michigan was from Australia or New Zealand (I forget
> which),
> > and she called the outhouses biffies! So, of course, we counselors did,
> too!
> >
> >
> >
> > > On Dec 28, 2016, at 1:20 AM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >
> >
> > > Went to camp near Georgian Bay one very long summer where the
> > bathroom/toilet area was called the Bif or Biffy. Canadian lingo?
> >
> > > Lynn
> >
> > >
> >
> > >
> >
> > >
> >
> > > www.ichthysdesigns.com
> >
> > >
> >
> > > When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I
> would
> > not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything
> you
> > gave me'. attributed to Erma Bombeck
> >
> > >
> >
> > >
> >
> > > On Dec 27, 2016, at 3:55 PM, Marion Thompson <
> marionwhitevale at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >
> >
> > > Being multilingual thanks to a very Anglo-centric life including two
> > English husbands,  in Britain bog is slang for bathroom and loo = toilet.
> >
> > >
> >
> > > And Charles has given us definitive definitions of fens, bogs, swamps,
> > and the like, which is great.
> >
> > >
> >
> > > Marion, a pilgrim
> >
> > >
> >
> > >
> >
> > >> On 12/27/2016 3:45 PM, Ann Markle wrote:
> >
> > >> And I thought it was so lovely that your church provided a service for
> > the
> >
> > >> bog people (a swamp here in the US, Marion, not a loo).  They're
> > definitely
> >
> > >> underserved!
> >
> > >>
> >
> > >> Ann
> >
> > >>
> >
> > >> The Rev. Ann Markle
> >
> > >> Buffalo, NY
> >
> > >> ann.markle at aya.yale.edu
> >
> > >>
> >
> > >> On Mon, Dec 26, 2016 at 2:16 AM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
> >
> > >> oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > >>
> >
> > >>> To spell cheque, bog is a word, as indeed it is -- just not the one I
> > had
> >
> > >>> in mind. (the big people's service). We have quite a bit of swampland
> >
> > >>> around here. As a matter of fact, a neighbor was draining a pond by
> his
> >
> > >>> house and found a large bone. He had experts come in, and they ended
> up
> >
> > >>> camped out in his yard for a while and extracted an entire skeleton
> of
> > a
> >
> > >>> mammoth. This area was a swamp back then.  I don't think anyone calls
> > it a
> >
> > >>> bog ....
> >
> > >
> >
> >
>


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