Comments on: Romanian Folk Festival in Calimaneşti

By: Mihai

Mihai — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 08:12:35 +0000

this wc debate:) reminded me that we use famous brands for nameing things or actions we do. We dont wear sneackers;we call them adidasi.We dont make a copy; we xerox it. We dont drive SUV’s; we drive jeeps.
So dont ask a romanian if he likes that SUV , he might not understand; instead ask him about that jeep… hehe… does anyone know other things like that which i missed?

By: bino

bino — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:33:39 +0000

I liked to read it

By: christopher prindle

christopher prindle — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 15:44:44 +0000

i think ythat this is site is not right for being on this website because the people will not like it at one bit

By: Romerican

Romerican — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 09:58:13 +0000

Well, now, I wasn’t quite so much picking on literal compounds, per se. Certainly picking on this particular anachronism, however. A restroom might be construed as a room where one rests, but I’d have to anticipate your skepticism and agree with it. Bathroom clearly works, especially when I point out the technical difference, even if it is common usage.

In any event, here was my bottomline: no one says water closet. No one. And yet I’ve heard some non-native speakers (i.e., Romanians) refer to it as a water closet because they’ve been taught that’s what WC means. I wanted to help those readers come to understand that saying “water closet” makes them look Really Weird to native-speakers. If they use restroom and bathroom, they’ll be understood positively by the overwhelming majority of English speakers. (Loo for the Brit/Oz minority.)

Now, on suite, we’ll have to agree to disagree. Know why? Suite is “sweet” and what I *cannot stand* is those very few southern states where furniture is sold as a “bedroom suit.” It’s the only exception to the pronunciation I’m aware of… and it’s definitely regional. The rest of the nation clearly says “bedroom suite” and is thus consistent will all other usage.

Mattress Mac, anyone?

By: Paranoia and other pleasant things » Blog Archive » Romerican wuz here!

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 18:15:01 +0000

[...] Now as we all know, even CIA agents go on holidays sometimes. After succesfully discovering what the acronym WC stands for, and thus preventing the Romanian terrorist organisation of Al-Bladderah from making thousands of foreigners die of embarrasment, he got his vacation and decided to pay us a visit with his trusty sidekick Laura, also known as LemonMouse. [...]

By: IOnuka

IOnuka — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 12:18:39 +0000

oh, come on, every culture/language has words that are not literal equivalents of their compounds. Yes, the place where you go relieve yourself is not a Water Closet per se, but it’s not a RESTroom per se either. And don’t get me started on inconsistencies in American English, from word meanings to pronunciations (I’ll never understand why ‘hotel suite’ is pronounced like ‘hotel sweet’, while if you take out the final ‘e’ in ’suite’ you have an entirely different pronunciation). My point is that, beyond logical rules, languages are set of conventions. The convention in Romania is to call the restroom ‘WC’. The convention is America is to call football ’soccer’, which is a lot more disturbing.

By: shadowchase

shadowchase — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:07:03 +0000

Fun travel log with great photos…..feel like I’m right there with ya! Such a sweet looking dog too.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 13:27:29 +0000

“But don’t worry, I’m here with some friendly help. The most common expression is to call the facilities a bathroom, as in “the bathroom is down the hall and second door on the left.”

Where I’m from, in polite company, it’s referred to as “da bogs”.
Never bathroom. Probably because we can’t afford bathrooms, showers and stuff.