Which must have made painting the hull ever so much more pleasant.
Does google say who "john" was?
Mark
At 12:01 PM 6/8/2005, you wrote:
>No sooner asked...Thank Google (which should be replacing that other big G
>round about now):
> >One of the most vilified pieces of equipment aboard our boats is the
> toilet—or as most sailors like to refer to it, the head. The old salts
> among us tend to cling to this bit of archaic nautical jargon to remind
> ourselves of the days when the only toilet facilities aboard sailing
> ships was to saunter up forward to the bow, or head of the ship, and let
> your backside hang over the bulwarks to do your business.<
>mj
>
>Mark Weiss wrote:
>
>>Both bog and can refer back to pre-indoor plumbing--with the overtone of
>>"bog people" in the one case and permission in the other. "Head" is too
>>awful to talk about--would be nice to know the origin of that one.
>>
>>There's also "privy," presumably from "private."
>>
>>Mark
>>
>>
>>At 10:37 AM 6/8/2005, you wrote:
>>
>>>A well brought-up British yob in my day, (cough, expectorate) would say
>>>"bog".
>>>mj
>>>
>>>Halvard Johnson wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Jun 8, 2005, at 10:13 AM, Mark Weiss wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Lavatory is accurate if you wash your hands in it. Crapper makes the
>>>>>recipient the active party. Loo sounds like it's instead of something.
>>>>>WC (watercloset) is just silly, tho the idea of a set of shelves for
>>>>>water is kind of neat--like a wine cellar? Harrington is too long--by
>>>>>the time you've asked where it is it might be too late.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Leaving us with, among others, "head" and "can"--short and . . . well,
>>>>sweet?
>>>>
>>>>Hal
>>>>
>>>>Halvard Johnson
>>>>[log in to unmask]
>>>>[log in to unmask]
>>>>website: http://home.earthlink.net/~halvard
>>>>blog: http://entropyandme.blogspot.com/
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>M.J.Walker - no webpage, no blogspot, no idea -
>>>
>>>nobody dies, 'nothing happens', we call it music,
>>>it is time rushing past the shabby portals of our ear
>>>
>>>and I am just a terrible mistake.
>>>Robert Kelly
>>
>
>--
>M.J.Walker - no webpage, no blogspot, no idea -
>
> nobody dies, 'nothing happens', we call it music,
> it is time rushing past the shabby portals of our ear
>
> and I am just a terrible mistake.
>Robert Kelly
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