Search This Blog

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

They Go to the W.C. in Europe

Last I heard, the international name for it was "W.C.", which stands for "water closet". That might not be what the locals call it in verbal speech but, if you see a sign that says "W.C.", that's what it means. In the UK, where the term "W.C." originated, they call it "The Loo", but I don't know why. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing that sign in Berlin, so it must not be all over Europe. In Berlin there would be two doors side by side. One of them would say "D", which stands for "Damen", which means "Ladies", and the other would say "H", which stands for "Herren", which means "Gentlemen". This was the second most important thing for a newbie to learn, right after "Ein bier, bitte."

I remember people using "they" to refer to individual persons way back in elementary school, and I also remember the teachers constantly correcting them when they did. It had nothing to do with gender neutrality in those days because that hadn't been invented yet. It was just that "they" was the plural form but, for some reason, people got into the habit of using it for the singular as well, and the teachers did not approve. The proper thing to say was either "he" or "she" and, if you didn't know the gender of the subject, you were supposed to default to "he", although few people did. At some point, people started saying "he or she", which made more sense, but that didn't last long. Some time ago, I read somewhere that "they" had become the politically correct choice. It has likely made it into the grammar books by now, causing many an old teacher to turn over in their graves.

Every summer in Cheboygan they have a "Doggie Fashion Show". I am not making this up, that's what they call it in the newspaper. This is the same newspaper that announces all the seats that are "up for grabs" before every election.




No comments:

Post a Comment