Posted by Brian Maskell on April 21, 1999 at 12:42:32:
In Reply to: Re: latrines posted by Desperate-to-go TAR on April 13, 1999 at 16:17:24:
I have enjoyed this thread. I remember growing up in England in the 50's how many ingenious euphonyhms (did I spell that right?) we used for these things. Spend a penny, powder my nose, visit my uncle, a quick slash, pull the chain, returning the Guinness to its natural habitat, etc. I am sure there are more that I have forgotten. I particularly like that generally useful and all embracing term "see a man about a dog"; which can be applied to a wide range of unmentionable subjects and can also be used to tell someone to mind their own business.
One of the few things I miss about England, now that I live in the United States, is the use of these kinds of prissy, whimsical tuens of phrase.
The point of this is to say that in English polite society (and all pre-sixites children's books were written for polite upstanding middle class children who had nannies, cooks, and motor cars) one just did not discuss such topics. AR was not avoiding the issue; he was just being polite.