Help with wording

[donutsweeper]

UK peeps, a question on wording (that I'm too embarrassed about to post over at  dw_britglish .)

For a US character I would say that, after receiving a a life-altering injury, a character is barely capable of going to the bathroom by himself.  Bathroom, in this case, would mean the ability to use the toilet and wash up and whatnot.

Would the UK wording be "use the w.c. (or is it WC) by himself" or simply toilet or lavatory or....?  Help!

Comments

[unfeathered]

Really? I've heard it all over the place in songs and tv! And that seemed to be what was meant!

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

in songs and tv

I wonder if it's one of those things that just hasn't made it to the middle of the country yet. Trends in language and... well pretty much all trends here seem to start on the coasts (where the media are centered) and work their way in.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I grew up in NY and don't really know the phrase "I could care" either.

Do you really think that language works that way- NYC and LA as starting points and seeping in to the rest of the US from there?

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

Well, I was thinking if it was something really quite new--like in the past year or so--it might not have made it to either of the places you and I live now, yet.

When I was a kid I somehow got the impression that the middle of the country was several months to a year or two behind California in fashion (if it reached us at all). And there have been a couple of times when friends in California taught me new slang or usage that was happening there, and it was a few months before I noticed it being picked up by national media and then appearing in my local area. But I suppose with the internet that's all bypassed now, and it might go the other way as well. This is with slang, though, I don't think it necessarily applies to more formal language, which is much slower to change anyway.

I don't know, really! It might just be my kooky theory. :)

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

it makes a lot of sense- culturally they are they hot spots. The midwest and south are often kind of skipped over in the mindset of those types- there used to be this cartoon of the US, where NY and NYC were huge and the east coast too, there was this smushed little bit that was the midwest and then there was CA that took up most of the south and west.

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

I've seen that map! It's pretty funny. I just noticed a comment in somebody's journal that her friend in NYC called the whole middle of the country "Ohindianidahutah" or something like that. *g* With the media centered on the coasts, it's understandable. I don't mind, like Xander, I like the quiet. :)

I couldn't find the one you're talking about, but have we discussed this one before? I know travels_in_time and I have...

http://www.lukecole.com/Electoral%20Maps/Maps6.htm

Then there's this - hee

http://www.georgeglazer.com/archives/maps/archive-nyc/nyersideasm.html

Oh, and this is what Texans really think. *g*

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/172-texas-is-bigger-than-everything/

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

You showed me the Jesusland one before- I'm apparently in the US of Canada! Which I'm oddly okay with!

The NY one's similar to what I was thinking, but that TX one is hysterical!

[unfeathered]

Makes sense! *g*