Going Off At A Tangent
Jul. 11th, 2018 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloPeter finished the bathroom. He'll be back later this year to reconfigure the downstairs toilet.
What's the acceptable word for toilet? Is it "loo" or "lavatory" or what? There was a time when the words you used for a whole range of things carried class signifiers and people in my stratum of society- respectable middle-class- worried in case the archdeacon's wife came to tea and they said something to make her smirk. Nancy Mitford wrote a book on the subject- called U and Non-U- or something of the sort and John Betjeman wrote a poem embodying her insights, which was simply crammed with unacceptable words, the first line of which goes, "Phone for the fish knives, Norman." How we tittered.
Pronunciation was a big thing too. I went through a phase (probably to do with the configuration of my teeth) when I said my "th"s as ""f"s- as in "I fink I saw a fylacine" and my grandfather- a wealthy man whose social origins were humble- used to take me to task for it. How embarrassing for him if people mistook his grandson for a cockney.
Anyway- reminiscing over- the bathroom's done- and my mother is- this very moment- enjoying her first bath in three and a half weeks.
What's the acceptable word for toilet? Is it "loo" or "lavatory" or what? There was a time when the words you used for a whole range of things carried class signifiers and people in my stratum of society- respectable middle-class- worried in case the archdeacon's wife came to tea and they said something to make her smirk. Nancy Mitford wrote a book on the subject- called U and Non-U- or something of the sort and John Betjeman wrote a poem embodying her insights, which was simply crammed with unacceptable words, the first line of which goes, "Phone for the fish knives, Norman." How we tittered.
Pronunciation was a big thing too. I went through a phase (probably to do with the configuration of my teeth) when I said my "th"s as ""f"s- as in "I fink I saw a fylacine" and my grandfather- a wealthy man whose social origins were humble- used to take me to task for it. How embarrassing for him if people mistook his grandson for a cockney.
Anyway- reminiscing over- the bathroom's done- and my mother is- this very moment- enjoying her first bath in three and a half weeks.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-11 03:28 pm (UTC)