Perhaps no word in English has undergone more transformations in its lifetime than toilet. Originally, in about 1540 it was a kind of cloth, a diminuitive form of toile, a word still used to describe a type of linen. Then it became a cloth for dressing tables. Then it became the items on the dressing table (whence toiletries). Then it became the dressing table itself, then the act of dressing, then the act of receiving visitors while dressing, then the dressing room itself, then any kind of private rom near a bedroom, then a room used lavatorially, and finally the lavatory itself. Which explains why ‘toilet water’ in English can describe something you would gladly daub on your face or, simultanously, ‘water in the toilet’. –From Bill Bryson’s “At Home”
Tag Archives: wisdom
Kant für Anfänger
Ich habe keinen Fernseher, und wenn ich woanders privates oder öffentlich-rechtliches Fernsehen schaue dann weiss ich auch wieder warum. Aber neben nachrichten sind es Sachen wie Kant für Anfänger auf BRα die Steuergelder rechtfertigen. Eine leichte Einführung in Kant, und öffentlich zugänglich noch dazu. Danke Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Reminder to myself
Never argue with an idiot. They bring you down to their level, then beat you with experience.