Fact Or Crap... Er... I Mean Fact Or Fiction

[Solitaire]

Fact Or Crap Renamed (http://www.webdesk.com/fact-or-crap-game/)

Damn Political Correctness. :(

[peptoabysmal]

Crap!

Wait... what was the question?

[Zep]

"Crap" - probably derived from the English firm with the same name as the owner, Thomas Crapper. They manufactured vitreous china articles for the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, including toilet bowls as just one item. They didn't invent the flushing toilet (reputedly the Romans had a primitive version), but the company name is synonymous with it.

I reckon it should have been renamed to "Fact or Flim-Flam" instead.

[peptoabysmal]

Originally posted by Zep
"Crap" - probably derived from the English firm with the same name as the owner, Thomas Crapper. They manufactured vitreous china articles for the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, including toilet bowls as just one item. They didn't invent the flushing toilet (reputedly the Romans had a primitive version), but the company name is synonymous with it.

I reckon it should have been renamed to "Fact or Flim-Flam" instead.

What I want to know is where the term "loo" came from. Or was it some person? "Hey, I'm going to go take a Lou."

[NoZed Avenger]

Originally posted by peptoabysmal


What I want to know is where the term "loo" came from. Or was it some person? "Hey, I'm going to go take a Lou."


English version of "Gardee Loo" (look out below) when emptying the chamberpots ouit the windows.


Edited to add: YES. I know that's not how its spelled.

[WildCat]

Originally posted by NoZed Avenger
English version of "Gardee Loo" (look out below) when emptying the chamberpots ouit the windows.

You mean that was ok, as long as you yell that before doing so? :eek:

No wonder the Victorian ladies carried parasols in sun-starved Britain. :D

[Zep]

Originally posted by WildCat

You mean that was ok, as long as you yell that before doing so? :eek:

No wonder the Victorian ladies carried parasols in sun-starved Britain. :D Until about the time of the Industrial Revolution, that was the normal way of things in all major Western cities, and most others as well, I understand. Then they started to introduce covered sewerage and drains and stuff, so an open drain in the street was not so common in Victorian England at all.

Our English historians can correct me, I'm sure!

[Jocko]

Originally posted by NoZed Avenger
[B]


English version of "Gardee Loo" (look out below) when emptying the chamberpots ouit the windows.
[B]

I'd heard that it came from the French "lieu," as in "vague place," as in "unmentionable room where one may move one's bowels." I always took a wry satisfaction in the idea that the name came from France.

I've also heard it's a corruption of "room 100" (100 =loo) as an early British designation for the restroom in an office. But that seems like a stretch to me.

[ZeeGerman]

Wow, the US are really hitting it hard with their newspeak. Double plus good :)

Zee

[BillyTK]

Originally posted by Jocko


I'd heard that it came from the French "lieu," as in "vague place," as in "unmentionable room where one may move one's bowels." I always took a wry satisfaction in the idea that the name came from France.
Nice theory, but as indoor toilets where a relatively recent development (heck, outdoor toilets were a relatively recent development) I'm kind of inclined to go with NoZed Avenger's explanation.

[richardm]

Originally posted by Zep
"Crap" - probably derived from the English firm with the same name as the owner, Thomas Crapper.

Interestingly enough - not so. The word "Crap" predates him quite considerably. "Crappy" was used in Middle English. So it was always funny that Crapper made toilets :D


As for the "Loo" thing, I've always heard that it came from "Guardez L'eau" - i.e. "watch out for the water" - as people emptied their chamber pots into the street (But why cry out in French?!). The truth is that nobody really knows.

My personal feeling (supported by no facts whatsoever) is that it is something to do with the 17th Century card game "Lanterloo", commonly shortened to "Loo". I think that saying "I'm going for a game of loo" was a synonym similar to "See a man about a dog" or "Go to pick a daisy" (That one was my Grandmother's. I had no idea what she meant at the time).

[richardm]

Originally posted by Zep
Until about the time of the Industrial Revolution, that was the normal way of things in all major Western cities, and most others as well, I understand. Then they started to introduce covered sewerage and drains and stuff, so an open drain in the street was not so common in Victorian England at all.

Our English historians can correct me, I'm sure!

Most of London, certainly, was an open sewer until Bazalgette (sp?) took it in hand in the Mid / Late (I think) 19th Century. Hard to believe! Some of the larger houses had a cesspit beneath, but these were designed to drain into the street when they overflowed. Many streets had an open culvert down the centre which attempted to clear this away, but generally this ended up blocked, allowing the sewage to spread around, into buildings and wells.

This situation only changed when the Thames backed up and caused the "Great Stink". Thousands fled the city, but Parliament remained in session (complete with windowsills draped in bedsheets soaked in chlorine and perfume to try to mask the stench). After this they decided enough was enough, and plans were put in place to sort it out.

[richardm]

Another possible root of the word "loo".

When Water Closets became popular, the events of Waterloo was still reasonably fresh in people's mind. "Loo" could be a pun based on WaterLoo / Water Closet.

[Ladewig]

I'm against the name change but I am not willing to do anything about it. On the other hand, if the casinos change the name of the dice tables to "fiction," I am going to stand up and be counted.