Toilet talk.

On BBC Radio Four they have a comedy programme called "The Museum of Curiosity". Basically a few famous people each week propose an addition to the hypothetical museum and explain why they think it should be preserved for posterity. A sense of humour and pictures from a satellite out in space are among the things suggested. The other evening an Australian offered a toilet. This led to some discussion of the lack of facilities in the UK (see my recent post) and the cost of those which do exist (once again, see my recent post on this topic). 

She had quite specific requirements: f

loor to ceiling doors - she did not want to see anyone's feet, knees or heads. 

soft loo paper - none of the shiny, greaseproof paper stuff for her. 

background music - an essential requirement apparently. 

I can recommend to her the ladies' loos on one of the Porto railway stations: pots of flowers, pot plants AND music. Also the ladies' loo in the Manchester Deaf Institute, where they have proper towels. And then, as I have mentioned before, the ladies' loo at the SanFrancisco cafe in Pontevedra; to reach the ladies' loo you go through a veritable library - shelves of stuff, presumably in case you need some inspiration while you sit. 

Now, who knew that the word "tart", not in its use as a pie but as a derogatory term for women, started off as a contraction of the word "sweetheart", used to address women much as "love" is used nowadays? (Interestingly, in some parts of Yorkshire men are also frequently addressed as "love". Male friends of mine university in Leeds were seriously miffed by this!) It was only towards the end of the 19th century that "tart" came to have its modern meaning. Here is a link to an article about words that denominate women, words which have changed their meaning, sometimes quite subtly, over time. 

I particularly like the fact that "hussy" came from an old English word for "housewife". I suppose a "shameless housewife", one who did not look after her house properly, might have been negligent on the cooking and cleaning front because really she was a "shameless hussy". 

I was reminded of all the Spanish animals - zorro (fox), lagarto (lizard), perro (dog) and others - whose feminine forms - zorra, lagarta, perra - are commonly used to mean prostitute. It's rather like the use of bitch (female dog) in English. Maybe the tendency for feminine forms of words to become derogatory terms goes some way to explain why actresses nowadays prefer to be called actors: one term for both genders. Especially when you think of all the jokes about things "the bishop said to the actress". 

Language, from almost any nation, is apparently still very sexist. But then so is much of society and its customs. I seem to remember reading somewhere that if France ever elects a female president, she will still be LE Président and not LA Présidente. 

Here's another bit of politico-linguistic oddity: dead cat strategy. It seems that this comes from what is described as the rich and fruity vocabulary of Australian political analysis. 

"Let us suppose you are losing an argument. The facts are overwhelmingly against you, and the more people focus on the reality the worse it is for you and your case. Your best bet in these circumstances is to perform a manoeuvre that a great campaigner describes as “throwing a dead cat on the table, mate”. ‘That is because there is one thing that is absolutely certain about throwing a dead cat on the dining room table – and I don’t mean that people will be outraged, alarmed, disgusted. That is true, but irrelevant. The key point, says the writer's Australian friend, is that everyone will shout “Jeez, mate, there’s a dead cat on the table!”; in other words they will be talking about the dead cat, the thing you want them to talk about, and they will not be talking about the issue that has been causing you so much grief'." 

Is David Cameron's referring to people in Calais as a "bunch of migrants" an example of this? Some people have suggested that that is the case. Devious!