“上廁所”英語(yǔ)學(xué)問(wèn)多多

“上廁所”乃人生一大事，英語(yǔ)里表示“廁所”的婉辭比中文更多。在多年前的英語(yǔ)課堂上，我們認(rèn)識(shí)了washroom和WC(water closet的縮略語(yǔ)，原指“盥洗室”)。這兩個(gè)詞如今在美國(guó)已很少被使用，現(xiàn)在美國(guó)人一般說(shuō)restroom或bathroom，英國(guó)人則多說(shuō) lavatory(在美語(yǔ)中，只有火車或飛機(jī)上的廁所才被叫做lavatory)。此外，英國(guó)人常用toilet指廁所或馬桶，而美國(guó)人則只用其指馬桶。

一些文化人還給“廁所”起了許多有趣的名稱，比如:comfort station, cloakroom, retiring room, public convenience, house of amusement, chamber of commerce, old soldiers' home。

在英國(guó)，人們有時(shí)將“廁所”稱為loo，據(jù)說(shuō)由于英國(guó)許多門牌號(hào)為100號(hào)的房屋多為廁所，loo與數(shù)字100形似，故而得名。

在一些非正式場(chǎng)合，表示“想去方便一下”的說(shuō)法則更多：

男士：I'd like / I want / I am going... (嘆為觀止啊，好多說(shuō)法~)

to go somewhere

to go into retreat

to go to the bank

to go to the john

to go to my private office

to go to Egypt

to cash a check

to pluck a rose

to shake hands with an old friend

to ease oneself

to shoot a lion

to release one's nature

to water the lawn

to shake dew off the lily

女士：I'd like / I want / I am going...

to fix one's face

to powder one's nose

to freshen up

to get some fresh air

to go and see one's aunt.

在聚會(huì)時(shí)，英美朋友如需要去方便一下，他們有時(shí)并不明說(shuō)，而是說(shuō) May I be excused? 或 May I adjourn? 這時(shí)，你千萬(wàn)不要問(wèn)他/她要去哪里。當(dāng)然，小朋友們通常會(huì)直截了當(dāng)?shù)卣f(shuō)：I wanna pee pee/piss/make water/go to the pot. 如果你在外國(guó)朋友家做客，想去方便又不知道廁所在哪，不妨婉轉(zhuǎn)地問(wèn)主人：What is the geography/layout of the house?