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Posted by: papaya

Everything you need to know about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_restrooms_in_Bratislava.

And it's sourced...

Posted by: Peter Damian

It's lovely. But what about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottaging_in_Bratislava?

Posted by: Mister Die

"Public toilets were separated by sex, entrances being guarded by notoriously ill-tempered restroom ladies (Slovak: hajzelbaba)."

I call bias against Slovakian restroom ladies.

Posted by: A Horse With No Name

QUOTE(Mister Die @ Mon 6th February 2012, 11:27am) *

"Public toilets were separated by sex, entrances being guarded by notoriously ill-tempered restroom ladies (Slovak: hajzelbaba)."

I call bias against Slovakian restroom ladies.


We need to investigate this. All in favor of installing secret video cameras in ladies bathrooms, raise your hands/hoofs. evilgrin.gif

Posted by: Mister Die

QUOTE(A Horse With No Name @ Mon 6th February 2012, 4:34pm) *

QUOTE(Mister Die @ Mon 6th February 2012, 11:27am) *

"Public toilets were separated by sex, entrances being guarded by notoriously ill-tempered restroom ladies (Slovak: hajzelbaba)."

I call bias against Slovakian restroom ladies.


We need to investigate this. All in favor of installing secret video cameras in ladies bathrooms, raise your hands/hoofs. evilgrin.gif
Then we can upload the videos and/or snapshots to the article! You know, in the interest of mankind and anti-censorship.

Posted by: radek

QUOTE(Mister Die @ Mon 6th February 2012, 10:27am) *

"Public toilets were separated by sex, entrances being guarded by notoriously ill-tempered restroom ladies (Slovak: hajzelbaba)."

I call bias against Slovakian restroom ladies.


I don't know if Slovak restrooms were anything like their Polish counterparts, but yes, it's true that there used to be (and still are) "notoriously ill-tempered restroom ladies" guarding those. BUT, in my experience and travels across Europe and North America, this is basically how it works:

Eastern Europe: you pay to pee but the public toilets are at least half way clean.
France: you don't have to pay to pee but the public toilets are disgusting
Germany: you don't have to pay to pee and the public toilets are immaculately clean
Italy: you pay to pee and the public toilets are disgusting
UK: you don't have to pay to pee but the public toilets are usually locked up, making the point moot.
US: What are "public toilets" anyway? Gas stations?
Mexico: Like Eastern Europe except the pipes break if you flush toilet paper down the toilet.

I remember back in the day, the bad ol' communist day, as a kid, trawling the neighborhood with friends and collecting trash-paper from trash cans, which could then be turned into specially designated "recycling centers" for toilet paper. Because you couldn't buy toilet paper in stores - there was a shortage and/or it was rationed. Honestly.

Edit: Austria and Switzerland: whether you pay to pee or whether they're clean or not, the public toilets is where the junkies hang out.

Posted by: lonza leggiera

QUOTE(Peter Damian @ Tue 7th February 2012, 1:48am) *

It's lovely. But what about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottaging_in_Bratislava?

http://www.ittc.ku.edu/~evans/stuff/americans_in_uk.html an explanation of this and other peculiarly British idioms for those who may be unfamiliar with them.

Posted by: Peter Damian

QUOTE(lonza leggiera @ Tue 7th February 2012, 1:39pm) *

QUOTE(Peter Damian @ Tue 7th February 2012, 1:48am) *

It's lovely. But what about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottaging_in_Bratislava?

http://www.ittc.ku.edu/~evans/stuff/americans_in_uk.html an explanation of this and other peculiarly British idioms for those who may be unfamiliar with them.


QUOTE

One of the most delighful ways to spend an afternoon in Oxford or Cambridge is gliding gently down the river in one of their flat- bottomed boats, which you propel using a long pole. This is known as "cottaging." Many of the boats (called "yer-i-nals") are privately owned by the colleges, but there are some places that rent them to the public by the hour. Just tell a professor or policeman that you are interested in doing some cottaging and would like to know where the public yerinals are. The poles must be treated with vegetable oil to protect them from the water, so it's a good idea to buy a can of Crisco and have it on you when you ask directions to the yerinals. That way people will know you are an experienced cottager.


That's pretty accurate.

QUOTE

Simply take some tokens from the baskets at the base of the escalators or on the platforms; you will find one near any of the state-sponsored Tube musicians.


Very true.

Posted by: Fusion

QUOTE

One of the most delighful ways to spend an afternoon in Oxford or Cambridge is gliding gently down the river in one of their flat- bottomed boats, which you propel using a long pole. This is known as "cottaging." Many of the boats (called "yer-i-nals") are privately owned by the colleges, but there are some places that rent them to the public by the hour. Just tell a professor or policeman that you are interested in doing some cottaging and would like to know where the public yerinals are. The poles must be treated with vegetable oil to protect them from the water, so it's a good idea to buy a can of Crisco and have it on you when you ask directions to the yerinals. That way people will know you are an experienced cottager.

That is very interesting. I have done this in Cambridge but I was told it was called punting. Nor do I recall the pole being treated first. No doubt my companions were careless. Presumably you should use Crisco All Vegetable Shortening rather than Shortening Butter?

Posted by: lonza leggiera

QUOTE(Fusion @ Wed 8th February 2012, 9:26am) *

QUOTE

One of the most delighful ways to spend an afternoon in Oxford or Cambridge is gliding gently down the river in one of their flat- bottomed boats, which you propel using a long pole. This is known as "cottaging." Many of the boats (called "yer-i-nals") are privately owned by the colleges, but there are some places that rent them to the public by the hour. Just tell a professor or policeman that you are interested in doing some cottaging and would like to know where the public yerinals are. The poles must be treated with vegetable oil to protect them from the water, so it's a good idea to buy a can of Crisco and have it on you when you ask directions to the yerinals. That way people will know you are an experienced cottager.

That is very interesting. I have done this in Cambridge but I was told it was called punting. ...

Ah, yes; a quite typically English leg-pull. This is what the Cambridge dons tell naive young academics on their first sabbaticals from the former colonies. It's a cause of much hilarity in the senior common room when the targeted yokel announces that he's "going punting". "Punting" is actually rhyming slang used by lower middle-class gentlemen to refer to the engagement of services provided by professional ladies as a remedy for the strain resulting from a long deprivation of close female companionship.

I'll leave it for you to guess what the appropriate rhyme is, but here's a clue: Why did the Irish use to call their unit of currency the "punt"? A: Because it rhymes with "bank manager".

Posted by: TheKartingWikipedian

Public restrooms in Bratislava. The article starts off "Public restrooms in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, are called public toilets or public WC. So the article is Public toilets in Bratislava then? Anyone for a rename?

Posted by: TheKartingWikipedian

QUOTE(radek @ Tue 7th February 2012, 2:51am) *


France: you don't have to pay to pee but the public toilets are disgusting



You want to try the public toilets adjacent to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris. You do have to pay and they fucking stink! And there's a female attendant handing out single - yes, bloody single - pieces of arsewipe in the male toilets. Dirty bloody frogs!

Posted by: Fusion

QUOTE(TheKartingWikipedian @ Thu 16th February 2012, 7:28pm) *

Public restrooms in Bratislava. The article starts off "Public restrooms in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, are called public toilets or public WC. So the article is Public toilets in Bratislava then? Anyone for a rename?

This shows how America centred Wikipedia is. Americans insist on calling these places bathrooms even although they rarely contain baths, or restrooms although they are generally uncomfortable to rest in. People say the British like euphemisms but Americans are often worse. Calling them toilets (places where you can wash) is still not fully a description but at least is not nonsense.