 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsEnglish UsageBritish EnglishESL Teaching Learnglish.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010Hiassen: potty
Hello: Does "potty" mean here "crazy" or "related to its excretion (using the chamber pot)?" ---- When he was seven, his mother had presented him with a baby dime-store terrapin, which he'd named Timmy and later flushed down the toilet in disapproval of its casual potty habits. Carl Hiaasen, Skinny Dip, p. 75 ---- -- Thanks. Marius Hancu On 27 Jan 2010, Marius Hancu wrote > Hello: > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Carl Hiaasen, Skinny Dip, p. 75 > ---- I'd read it as the last one: he flushed it away because it pooped everywhere.  SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed > > Does > > "potty" [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > I'd read it as the last one: he flushed it away because it pooped > everywhere. OK. Thank you all. Marius Hancu > Hello: > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Thanks. > Marius Hancu I think the problem probably was that the terrapin did not use a chamber pot. "Potty habits", a reference to the little plastic pots used in training small children, means habits involving excretion or urination. Oddly enough, I never thought of calling the children's version a 'chamber pot', although technically I suppose it is one. To me, a chamber pot is large, old-fashioned, made of pottery, probably decorated with a floral design, and accompanied by a matching bowl for washing. SignatureCheryl On 27 Jan 2010, Cheryl wrote > Oddly enough, I never thought of calling the children's version > a 'chamber pot', although technically I suppose it is one. To > me, a chamber pot is large, old-fashioned, made of pottery, > probably decorated with a floral design, ...and probably the most disgusting household article I can think of. (No, hang on: that'd be a toilet brush.) SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed > On 27 Jan 2010, Cheryl wrote > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > (No, hang on: that'd be a toilet brush.) Would Sir care to examine our range of fine-quality spitoons? SignatureRoland Hutchinson He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba," ... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy. --Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ ) On 27 Jan 2010, Roland Hutchinson wrote >> On 27 Jan 2010, Cheryl wrote >> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Would Sir care to examine our range of fine-quality spitoons? If it's the only way to avoid toilet brushes, I guess I'll have to... SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed > On 27 Jan 2010, Roland Hutchinson wrote > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > If it's the only way to avoid toilet brushes, I guess I'll have to... Kindly walk this way... SignatureRoland Hutchinson He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba," ... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy. --Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ ) > > On 27 Jan 2010, Cheryl wrote > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Would Sir care to examine our range of fine-quality spitoons? Is a spitoon a regular household item? Now, I admit, I'm a country girl and English is not my firsy language, so perhaps those posh, luxurious mansions and penthouses which I've never visited are all furnished with fine-quality spitoons. > > > On 27 Jan 2010, Cheryl wrote > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > so perhaps those posh, luxurious mansions and penthouses which I've > never visited are all furnished with fine-quality spitoons. Perhaps things differ on the ancestral side of the ocean, but to me they seem no less common than chamber pots as household items go-- which is to say, I've never seen either in a building which served as a household during my lifetime (I've seen bedpans, and I've seen ashtrays and bottles used as tobacco receptacles). >>> On 27 Jan 2010, Cheryl wrote >>>> Oddly enough, I never thought of calling the children's version a [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > so perhaps those posh, luxurious mansions and penthouses which I've > never visited are all furnished with fine-quality spitoons. I'd always assumed that a spittoon was a household item one or two hundred years ago in the kind of English country house in which the ladies withdrew to some kind of sitting room after dinner, leaving the gentlemen to their brandy and cigars. I assumed that of course a spittoon would be provided for the gentlemen. I don't know this, though. My extremely rare visits to such luxurious mansions all came much later, and after payment of a fee. I don't recall the guides saying anything about spittoons. I knew the word from a very young age, since my father taught me to sing 'Toreador! Don't spit on the floor! Use the cuspidor, that's what it's for!' and of course I asked what the strange words meant. SignatureCheryl On 28 Jan 2010, Cheryl wrote re: spittoon > I knew the word from a very young age, since my father taught me > to sing 'Toreador! Don't spit on the floor! Use the cuspidor, > that's what it's for!' and of course I asked what the strange > words meant. That reminds me of a non-PC, dumb-French-guy joke when I was young, which revolved around a fellow in a bar taking on a bet as to there being three doors in the room rather than just one. He loses when it's pointed out that there's the entrance door; that his name's LaPorte, which makes another one; and that there's a cuspidor in the room. He admits defeat and tries the bet on someone else, but screws up when he can't recall the word for the third "door", calls it a "spittoon", and loses the bet again. No, it's not a very funny joke -- but it did teach me the words "spittoon" and "cuspidor". SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed [...] > No, it's not a very funny joke -- but it did teach me the words > "spittoon" and "cuspidor". Revolting, but preferable to something yet more revolting. The Navy used to call them "spitkids", and Jolly Jack was justly celebrated for the accuracy of his expectorations. Somebody's war reminiscences told of his squad being billeted in a Cambridge college (am I remembering right?). One day, the corporal announced that he'd received complaints: "It appears as how there's been too much gobbin' goin' on. If you _must_ gob, _step_ on it!" SignatureMike. >[...] >> [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >to call them "spitkids", and Jolly Jack was justly celebrated for the >accuracy of his expectorations. As it happens, I started in on Dana's _Two Years Before the Mast_ yesterday, a book with some bedeviling terms, even for someone who claims to have some knowledge of the sea. I hope I don't find it, it is so disgusting a word, but I'll keep a weather eye out for "spitkids". SignatureRegards, Chuck Riggs, An American who lives near Dublin, Ireland and usually spells in BrE >I knew the word from a very young age, since my father taught me to sing >'Toreador! Don't spit on the floor! Use the cuspidor, that's what it's >for!' and of course I asked what the strange words meant. I heard "Toreador-a don't spit on the floor-a! Use the cuspidor-a, that's what it is for-a!". The "a"s make it fit Bizet's music better. SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida >> I knew the word from a very young age, since my father taught me to sing >> 'Toreador! Don't spit on the floor! Use the cuspidor, that's what it's >> for!' and of course I asked what the strange words meant. > > I heard "Toreador-a don't spit on the floor-a! Use the cuspidor-a, > that's what it is for-a!". The "a"s make it fit Bizet's music better. Google gives both versions. I don't remember adding an 'a', but it's been a long time since I sang it. SignatureCheryl >> On 27 Jan 2010, Cheryl wrote >> [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >Would Sir care to examine our range of fine-quality spitoons? Laura, avert! <singing> Toreador Now don't spit on the floor Use the cuspidor That's what its for. SignatureRichard Bollard Canberra Australia To email, I'm at AMT not spAMT. > "Potty habits", a reference to the little plastic pots used in training > small children, means habits involving excretion or urination. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > chamber pot is large, old-fashioned, made of pottery, probably decorated > with a floral design, and accompanied by a matching bowl for washing. And placed under the bed in such a position that one will collide with it after falling out of bed. (I'm recalling an unpleasant childhood memory here.) SignaturePeter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org For an e-mail address, see my web page. Cheryl Perkins: > "Potty habits", a reference to the little plastic pots used in training > small children, means habits involving excretion or urination. "Potty" is also often used to refer to an actual toilet, as mock-childlike language and I presume also with actual children. SignatureMark Brader, Toronto | "I don't _want_ people using Linux for ideological msb@vex.net | reasons. I think ideology sucks." -- Torvalds |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2012 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.