As if someone looked deep inside my soul and located my deepest desires, I've found two amazing things I've been looking for ... all my life, really. The first was just yesterday - a website that lists how people in different countries pronounce the sounds of animals (via Swissmiss). ie: we say "meow" for a cat, but in Japan they say, "nyan nyan". Then, today, what do I find but another websites that has sound bites of children from various counties prouncing what animals (and ambulances and race cars) say in their countries (via How about Orange).
I have a brilliant idea to make a coffee book about toilets around the world. That fascinates me even more than how people make animal sounds. Whenever I go on vacation and say, go on a tour of a super old house or a castle or something, all I'm really interested in is how they used the toilet. You probably are too, but you're too afraid to ask, aren't you? That's why my book is going to be a best-seller. Nobody steal my idea, ok? This is my Big Idea. Did you know, for example, that in Japan, apparently, bathrooms A. have heated toilets and B. have some kind of switch that turns on loud annoying music so no one can hear you tinkle? Isn't that FASCINATING? Anyway, the whole book's going to be like that. Check out the new Top Five!
11 comments:
thanks for the laugh!
I have thrice been to Japan but never once have I used a bathroom with music that covers up any sounds.
Their toilets are amazing though, not only are they heated but there is a bidet spray for both girls and boys (front and back in you knowhuttumsaing') and a knob that can control the pressure of the spray.
I recommend the lowest setting, that spray can really, uh, surprise you if you're not 100% ready for it.
did you find any "two-footers" while in Europe, Lym?
What's a two footer? I haven't been outside western Europe.
That's my Kelly, there's no one like her! Could I buy one of the first books off the presses?
Carrie: I think they were intended for male use only---well, I'm certain they WERE but once women were allowed to, say, leave their homes, they were the only "modern" public toilets to be found in many, many facilities around Europe in the early/mid-70's.
So. Imagine what appears from the outside to be a public restroom. Open the door and find the floor is essentially a porcelain tray with perhaps a 3 inch ledge all around, a drain in the middle and two rectangluar-ish spots with some or other kind hashing to provide more secure footing (?). And that's a two-footer. A pull-chain flush rinses modestly...
Of course you haven't lived until you've been a house guest in the outer provinces of Spain and had the luxury of emptying your bladder in the straw among the goats in the family's enclosed courtyard...
Kelly, can I co-author?
That did make me laugh with a friend here at work.
The goose made me really laugh trying to say the different ones the sound we were making was like when a cat has a hairball in its throat.
My other favorite was the Owl with "oe hoe" and the rooster crow in danish "kykyliky."
I have used one of those Japanese noise toilets. It was very classy. Okay, not classy. Terrifying. I have also used a Japanese version of a two footer. That was even scarier.
The heat is NICE, though.
Kathy, co-author - yes! It sounds like you have a lot to offer my toilet book. haha
In Bangladesh, there's really no such thing as a public toilet, you just go in a field or something, and everyone looks away.
I ran into one of those two-footers in Paris, but I was afraid I'd pee all over my clothes so I had to pass.
I also learned that downtown Chicago was a man's world until fairly recently; when women became more usual fixtures in the workplace, it was necessary for many buildings to modify their restroom offerings.
What about pay toilets?! And when you don't have any change. Yikes!!!!
We learned all the animal sounds in German class. Roosters are "kikeriki" and I think pigs are "ouf ouf". That was fun!
In Spanish, a rooster says "Cucurrucucu" - there's a beautiful folk song of the same title. Here's a clip from Talk to Her of Caetano Veloso singing "Cucurrucucu Paloma".
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