I currently have an exhibit about the history of the toilet on display at
the museum.   Unfortunately it is only the euro/american history.   However,
even here there certainly have been some big swings in style through time.
We folk just happened to grow up in an era that promoted embarrassment about
poo poo.   My grandmother's big old farmhouse at Phelps, NY had a beautiful
commode in the parlour, the room used only for formal functions.   It was a
fine piece of furniture like everything else in the room, and was always a
source of amazement and curiosity between my brother and me, as we grew up
in a super clean modern home economics 1950's  household where bodily
functions were NEVER mentioned.   Of course, all grandma's bedrooms had
incredibly beautiful chamber pots under every bed, placed just where you
could see them to appreciate their art.

The history of toilet paper is equally fascinating.   Apparently the ancient
Romans used an ocean sponge on a stick, stored in a basin of salt water so
it would always be soft and moist for the next user.

One place I work at here, a ranch mansion house from 1904, had the first
indoor plumbing in the region, a single water closet that was the talk of
the town.   Today, just down the road, are typical today homes being built
with four bathrooms, almost as many places to take a crap as to watch tv.

It seems that toileting is the one thing humans anywhere are always
culturally confident about what is the right way to do.   Other culture's
ways than one's own provoke mirth and amazement.   In our culture, the one
sure thing remaining that can create dissention is which way the toilet
paper is supposed to come off the roll.   No laughing matter, that.

cp in spotless bc

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gabriel Orgrease" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 3:49 PM
Subject: [BP] Qatar Bathrooms


> So last night I'm talking with this architect who had done a great deal
> of work in Qatar. Seems there is a problem in building suburban
> subdivisions on cul-d'sacks in Muslim countries, which is what those
> with money want to imitate the West, as all toilets need to face with
> the ass towards Mecca. Therefore the placement of cookie-cutter houses
> becomes a torment. It seems all kind of ass backwards to me and I've
> asked my son, probably at least six times already, if I heard the man
> correctly or not.
>
> I also was informed that a consort of the king, or whatever he is, had a
> toilet in her bathroom that was the mouth of a hippopotamus. The
> bathroom was quite large and had sofas and chairs and coffee tables.
> Seems this lucky lady could spend half her day farting around in the
> bathroom and nobody was to have any problem about it.
>
> As my new acquaintance was an architect it gave me a new appreciation
> for folks who have to design, figure out, and negotiate the creation of
> these wonders.
>
> ][<
>
> --
> To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
> uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
> <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>