Okay, you snared me, again. Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow in Game of thrones is related to John Harington — the inventor of the first flushing toilet in Britain in the 16th century. It has been intimated that he is why we call a toilet "the John." Perhaps you can explain to us why the bathroom/lavatory/crapper, etc was/is referred to as a 'water closet'? Other than there being water in the room to flush the toilet being the obvious reason, it still makes me wonder why water closet? I find the description a bit misleading.
What a great article! Thanks for sharing it with us. I am amazed that so many people survived drinking that water. I have been watching videos of these people in Pakistan who try different foods to eat and one time they gave them bottled water. Their local well and river waters were not clear, smelled and had a taste to them unlike the bottled water which they clearly enjoyed. To think that even now in 2022 there are people still drinking water which could easily incapacitate or even kill a stranger who had no resistance to the things floating around in that water.
In "It's a wonderful life" old man Potter refers to Italian families in town as 'garlic eaters' which I found to be both a curious phrase and insulting. As for recipes calling for only 1 or 2 cloves of garlic... I just find them dumb and to be ignored. Garlic should be generously used in recipes or not at all. For holidays, as a special treat, I will roast whole bulbs of garlic in muffin pans. I slice off the top of the bulb exposing raw garlic in each clove, then I brush them with olive oil and a touch of sea salt, cover them with aluminum foil and roast them at 400 degrees for 1/2 hour. You can easily squeeze the softened garlic out and onto some nicely toasted french bread rounds. yum!
I am totally in love with Heinz ketchup sweetened with honey. It tastes better than their other sweeteners, IMO. It has a richer taste, not overly sweet and it's perfect on burgers and meatloaf.
After years of burning the hell out of my fingers and face I quit frying bacon in a pan - any pan. I now cook it on baking sheets in the oven @400 degrees turning the bacon over 1x during cooking or if bacon is thick cut 2x. No splatters or burnt human bits anymore. Brown sugar rubbed bacon is excellent, too.
I asked you early on if it was dangerous to light a match around such refuse but you said "No, it just smelled awful, as implied by The Great Stink." So it must have been dangerous for a lit flame in vaults and chambers but not outside by a river with air circulating around.For many decades it was considered rude to refer to "the bathroom" as "the water closet or W. C." Jack Paar wanted to make a joke using the letters "W.C" which stood for water closet on his television show but 4 minutes before he went on air his network had censored his joke. Paar was so incensed by this that he quit his show and only returned to it 1 month later. I suppose that was Paar's "big stink".
Oh, I am loving this influx of knowledge. Thank you for expanding on the term 'honey wagon' and the other terms relating to beekeepers and sewage.And, moving away from England, let's not forget about the horrible halls and corners of Versailles when they neglected to put in toilet facilities to accommodate the myriad bedrooms and entertainment halls built to hold royalty that were forced to live there against their will so the king could better control his empire. It was noted by many that Versailles stunk all year round and I suspect between the heat and the sewage summer would have been intolerable.
Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow in Game of thrones is related to John Harington — the inventor of the first flushing toilet in Britain in the 16th century.
It has been intimated that he is why we call a toilet "the John."
Perhaps you can explain to us why the bathroom/lavatory/crapper, etc was/is referred to as a 'water closet'? Other than there being water in the room to flush the toilet being the obvious reason, it still makes me wonder why water closet? I find the description a bit misleading.