Looks like you went through a secondary school vs. grammar education then. We learnt the basics in the old days.

Think I might have the answer to this. At my primary school, the name on the overhead metal toilet cistern was 'Waterloo' and the toilet bowl had 'Thos.Crapper' written into the enamel.

Went to a Grammar School
Just dumbing down and trying to be provocative.

Apparently in Australia you can go into shops and ask for a roll of Durex, and they won't bat an eyelid.

There's a dentist in Lörrach (just across the border from Basel) who is called Weh.

Good you know your place then. I went private military school all the way.

OMG some of the teachers were dodgy...

If it is a roll then I don't know what you are talking about.

Haven't been to Oz in a while.

What is it? This roll?

I seem to recall being told once that it came from the old custom of people shouting 'garde a l'eau' before emptying a chamber pot out of an upper-storey window into the communal gutter that ran down the centre of the street below. Might be totally apocryphal of course, can't trust history teachers.... especially not in the sixties, and an english grammar school!

Yeah. Yeah.


Does that mean I am loosing my mind ????????srgouhfabljchbjhyhoqhuhlcn kaqgohbcy,mbH fa,jszhgykh<ljhk vmhbskyhi<unmny yx,uhsylij as nbnlkauyhn.na

Was in the Navy afterwards - I am glad it was the Merchant Navy not the Royal Navy - much more freedom.
Got caned and hit so many times in school - once publicly on the stage and twice by a Nun - brilliant upbringing. Thank God I had a few big friends - some of the other kids had a hard time with the teachers behind closed doors. Loved grammar School.

Going back on thread - The reason I mentioned Thomas Crapper was to do with the word crap. I bought a small illustrated book about his life when I was 14 years old when I was at school and it was very educational. Americans say they are going to the John. North English say they are going to the bog. Little boys room - powdering your nose - there are so many euphemisms whose origins have being long forgotten.

It is interesting to know the background - but I suppose as long as everyone knows what you mean when you say the word or expression - the origin is not so significant.

Hah!!!!! A true fellow Brit!!!!
(Nothing wrong with an all-girl grammar school in my time btw. And my history teacher may have changed / moulded my whole perception on life)

Well, I'm duel-nationality (english/irish) but I'll take that as a compliment!
Did I get it right???!

I'm not sure - are you Mrs Murphy ,

The other dentist in our local practice in the UK was Mr Pain.

It depends.
We were told that version and the Waterloo cistern version at my grammar school as they said there was some uncertainty about the true origin of the word.

Yup, and I've never been to a dentist since either.

I realise that there is so much in us Grammar school girls just trying to get out, but don't want derail the thread.

Somewhat OT, I know, but there currently are three dentists in Switzerland that go by the surname of Borer. In the 1970s there was a dentist in Zurich called Angst.

On a different but equally pleasant note, sorry if it has been mentioned already, the privy aboard a boat or small ship is called the head (or heads). That comes from the fact that on ancient sailships it was placed on the bows.

Frenchie, dinger, franger... they'll all do. My personal favourite is cock sock, though.

Durex is just an ubiquitous brand name, of course. But I've never seen them sold in a roll. What Americans find particularly amusing (or shocking) is the classic Aussie beer ad tagline, "I can feel a XXXX (Fourex) coming on".

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That's so sad, and you Aussies have it particularly hard

Definitely the best time for a XXXX, any way you look at it.

Nope, there's not. It's a British word for your eraser.

On an American forum I was a mod ages ago, there were short-cuts to chose from. One of them was "bonking somebody". The American owners seemed totally clueless, thinking it just meant to hit somebody. After all, they had this phrase in their software, so I let the Brits have their fun with it

That's one of my surnames, yes!

For many years the family dentist here in Geneva was a Scot called Lindsay Pain.

Years ago my upstairs american neighbour commenting on my youngest son (who was just starting to walk at the time) 'bouncing down the stairs on his fanny', and then totally failing to understand why I found that so funny.