Toilet terms: bog rolls, the John, the head.

The term “bog”

The bog is a colloquial expression in British English for a toilet (slang). Originally “bog” was used to describe an open cesspit and the word was later applied to the privy connected to it. If you want to speak proper English, avoid using it. It is colloquial and it would not be widely accepted.

Who invented the toilet roll o bog roll?

It was Seth Wheeler who became the official inventor in 1871. His company, Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company, patented the rolled and perforated wrapping paper selling the first toilet paper on a roll.

In 1879, Thomas Seymour, Edward Irvin and Clarence Wood Scott founded the Scott Paper Company in Philadelphia. They began customising rolls for every merchant-customer they had and selling packages of small rolls and stacked sheets. Scott Paper Company began producing toilet paper under its own brand name in 1896. By 1925 Scott Company became the leading toilet paper company in the world.

Before that, the paper was a rare commodity.

In 1857, Joseph C. Gayetty was recognised as the inventor of modern commercially available toilet paper. He invented the first packaged toilet paper in the United States. Gayetty’s Medicated Paper” was sold in packages of flat sheets, medicated with aloe and watermarked with his name.

The first “official” toilet paper was introduced in China in 1391, but the first mention of toilet paper (paper for personal hygiene) dates back to the year 589 AD in Korea. Between 875 and 1317 AD, paper was produced in large sheets (2-foot x 3-foot sheets and even perfumed) for the Chinese emperor’s family hygiene.

Other terms

Other terms for the bathroom are the John, the head, the toilet.

  • The John. Sir John Harrington lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Harrington devised Britain’s first flushing toilet, which he called the “Ajax”. He wrote one of his more famous and popular works titled “A New Discourse upon a Stale Subject: The Metamorphosis of Ajax”. The actual flushing toilet device itself was real and was installed in his home and later one was made for the queen around 1596. Although Harrington wasn’t by any means the first to invent a flushing toilet. His invention was an innovation in Britain, which is why it is thought the flushing toilet today is often also called a “John”.
  • The “head”.  This was originally a maritime euphemism.  This came from the fact that, classically, the toilet on a marine vessel was located at the front of the ship (the head).
  • The “loo”. The “loo”, derives from the French “guardez l’eau”, meaning “watch out for the water”. Before throwing the waste out the window, they’d yell “Guardez l’eau!”
  • The Crapper. The term “crapper” derives from the company name “Thomas Crapper & Co Ltd”, which made toilets in Britain. American soldiers in WWI stationed in England found this humorous because of the play on words with the previously existing term “crap” and so began calling the toilet “the crapper”.

Hang fire with this…

The title expression “hang fire” (by formal definition) means to do nothing, to delay, wait, hold back, or hesitate. The phrase originally denoted the instance when a gun, using an antique type of ignition such as percussion cap, or flintlock, would fail or markedly delay to fire when the trigger was pulled.

The origin

The “hang” in “hang fire” is the English common verb “to hang,” meaning “to suspend” in a variety of senses, used here in a figurative sense of “to hold in a state of inaction,” the same sense we use in the phrase “hung jury,” meaning a jury unable to reach a verdict. “Hang fire” can also mean “to delay something that was expected to happen,” since a gun like a blunderbuss or a musket that “hangs fire” may fire on its own in a moment or two (making such weapons inherently dangerous to use).

Unlike so many expressions, this one is well understood. It dates from a time when firearms were loaded using a gunpowder charge poured from a flask, which was then ignited by a spark from a flint striking against an iron plate. Gunpowder was notoriously unreliable, partly because it varied a great deal in quality, but also because the slightest damp stopped it igniting properly. When this happened, the powder in the firearm smouldered instead of exploding and was said to hang fire. (This was highly dangerous, as you may imagine because the remainder of the powder might explode at any time, perhaps while its owner was trying to clean the gun out and reload it.) So to hang fire became an expression for some event that was slow in acting or of a person hesitating, usually with the inference that a matter of some importance was involved.

“Flash in the pan”

This expression should not be confused with a closely-related one a flash in the pan, for an ineffective effort or outburst. This referred to gunpowder that burned fiercely but ineffectually in the touch hole of a gun, without igniting the main charge.The powder in the “pan” of a flintlock firearm “flashes” just fine, but the main charge fails to ignite. “Flash in the pan” has been used figuratively since the late 17th century to mean something that attracts great public notice but has no lasting effect or success (“These were flash-in-the-pan early Nineties pop stars who combined European dance music with tints of R&B and afro-Caribbean pop,” 2011). Unlike something that “hangs fire,” a “flash in the pan” attracts attention at least at the outset, even if it turns out to be, in the lingo of the recording industry, a “one-hit wonder.”

Fly by the seat of your pants

Done by feel, guess, or trial and error rather than by careful planning, thought or technique. It means to decide a course of action as you go along, using your own initiative and perceptions. To do something difficult without the necessary skill or experience.

I had no idea how to do it – I was just flying by the seat of my pants.

Origin

The term comes from the early days of aviation. It means going aloft without instruments, radio or other such luxuries. When people first began flying aircraft, they did not have the same advanced navigation tools and abilities to communicate with people on the ground. Therefore, people were flying by the seat of their pants or flying without the ability to communicate or fully plan things out.

Fly by the seat-of-the-pants, alternatives

  • Play it by ear: proceed instinctively according to results and circumstances rather than according to rules or a plan.
  • Wing it: to improvise, to do something without proper preparation or time to rehearse.
  • Go with the flow: be relaxed and accept a situation, rather than trying to alter or control it.

Real examples online:

What is an Alcatel letter?

A letter (also referred to as an “award decision notice” or “regulation 86 notice”) that must be sent at the conclusion of a procurement to unsuccessful suppliers providing prescribed details of the tender evaluation scores. The standstill period does not start until the letters have been dispatched.

What is a Standstill period?

In the context of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006, a mandatory period between the notification of the intended award of a contract subject to those regulations and the actual award of that contract. The standstill period is at least ten calendar days between the dispatch of the Alcatel letters and the entry into the contract with the selected bidder. Its purpose is to allow unsuccessful bidders to challenge the decision before the contract is signed. The notification of an award decision in a contract tendered via the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

Action

  • Day 0 Notify tenderers of decision and intention to award contract on or after ‘date’
  • Day 1
  • Day 2 Tenderers must request additional debriefing (by phone, email, fax) before end of the day (midnight)
  • Day 3
  • Day 4
  • Day 5
  • Day 6
  • Day 7 Additional de-briefings must be completed before the end of the day (midnight)*
  • Day 8
  • Day 9
  • Day 10 End of minimum standstill period**

What is included in an Alcatel Letter?

There are strict requirements as to the contents of the standstill notice. It must cover:

  • the criteria for the award of the contract;
  • the reasons for the decision including the characteristics and relative advantages of the successful tender. This should include a full breakdown of scores against each criterion and sub-criterion (for both the losing and winning bidder) with supporting explanation;
  • the reason (if any) why the economic operator did not meet the technical specifications;
  • the name of the tenderers to be awarded the contract/become a party to the framework agreement; and
  • a statement of when the standstill period is expected to end.

How to slow down when speaking English?

“A good speech should be like a woman’s skirt; long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.”
― Winston S. Churchill

The Typing Technique

The average person speaks 125 words per minute. Recently, I came across a technique for slowing down my speech which I found extremely helpful. This technique is all about typing and of course recording yourself. To make the most of it, type every word. If your typing skills are advanced, you might want to write instead. During this exercise, you will develop not only a sense of the correct timing, but you will understand the benefits of taking time. Discovering the correct speed, it is crucial. The English language has 22 vowel sounds, timing is important, e.g, the short and long “i” such as in the “spreadsheet” word. If you let the excitement overcome you, you might end pronouncing the “s***” word instead. Good Luck! (This paragraph is just 125 words)

The Beat Technique

After each sentence, three beats. This will give the audience enough time to process the message. The point of doing this is for you to feel the pauses. If you are a non-native speaker it will give you time to swallow. As a Spanish speaker, one of the main difference I have noticed is the amount of saliva that is produced while speaking in English.

Enunciating and Speaking in Blocks

For some people, it is really hard almost impossible to slow down. One of the main issues is that by slowing down we lose the chain of thoughts as our brain is always going ahead. This would mean we need to change our brain speed. A huge challenge over here! So what are the options? By enunciating you will make sure that all words are noticeable and no one gets lost in the speed of the speech. Speaking in blocks is similar to the Beat Technique but it focuses on separating a whole block of topics rather than just breaking up in between sentences. You need to stop after every sentence or new thought.

Key Tips

  1. Open your mouth a little bit wider than you do. This helps the sound to get out and it also slows you down, it might only be a fraction of a second but it helps. Open as wide as when you yawn. I don’t expect you to open it that wide when talking in a conversation (you may look a bit daft) but if you practise that wide – with three fingers vertically in your mouth, you will be more likely to open it as wide as two fingers when speaking.
  2. Finish the words. Make sure you put the ends on the words. Many people just don’t realise that they cut nearly every word short and this makes their speech sound mumbled and very quick.
  3. Lengthen the words. Creating gaps between words is the first thing everybody does when trying to slow down in their speech. They lose all of their fluency. A better and easier technique is to make each word longer. How? By making the vowel sounds longer – just a fraction of a second. For instance, the word ‘long’ make it longer by holding the ‘o’ sound so you get ‘loong’.

Now it’s just time to practice and practice again and again.

Is coffee countable or uncountable? When do we say “a coffee” “coffee” or “some coffee”?

Coffee can be countable and uncountable. It depends on the context. Most of the time these are interchangeable in common usage. “Would you like some coffee?” (Referring to the substance, uncountable). “Would you like a coffee?” Is really short for “would you like a cup of coffee” and refers to the cup, (countable).

But if you’re visiting someone in their home, asking for “a coffee” might sound a little rude, as if you were treating your host as a waiter. In a friendly setting (as opposed to a commercial one), I’d recommend asking for “a glass of water”, “a glass of orange juice” or “some orange juice”, “a cup of coffee”, or “a cup of tea”. For brand-name drinks or mixed drinks with standard names, it can be said: “a Coke”, “a Pepsi”, “a Fanta”, “a martini”, “a Boilermaker”, etc.

  • Do you want to grab a (cup of) coffee? Do you want to grab a cup or a cuppa? *The verb “to grab” is another way of saying “to have/get” something. Shall we grab lunch? Let’s just grab a quick bite. 
  • Do you want to get a (cup of) coffee? Do you want to get a cup or a cuppa?
  • Do you want to have a (cup of) coffee?
  • Would you like to grab a (cup of) coffee?
  • Are you up for a (cup of) coffee this weekend?
  • Let’s have (some) coffee sometime!
  • Let’s grab (some) coffee sometime!
Would you like some coffee? uncountable because it’s referring to the substance
He ordered a coffee. countable, because it’s referring to a cup of coffee

Using countable and uncountable nouns

When using countable or uncountable nouns, pay attention to articles and adjectives! Some articles and adjectives can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns. However, others can be used with only countable or only uncountable nouns.

Used with Countable Nouns Only
a a doctor, a pen, a meal, a class, a college
many many cups, many books, many libraries, many flights
few few questions, few tables, few apples, few holidays, few countries
a few a few questions, a few problems, a few issues, a few issues
Used with Uncountable Nouns Only
much much money, much time, much food, much water, much energy
little little trouble, little equipment, little meat, little patience
a little bit of a little bit of confidence, a little bit of sleep, a little bit of snow
Used with Countable & Uncountable Nouns
the countable the monkeys, the schools, the teachers, the boats, the bananas
uncountable the cheese, the machinery, the luggage, the grass, the knowledge
some countable some tables, some stores, some grapes, some cities, some nurses
uncountable some time, some news, some bread, some salt, some mail
any countable any forks, any socks, any bathrooms, any waiters, any beliefs
uncountable any advice, any soap, any transportation, any gold, any homework
no countable no magazines, no chocolates, no pilots, no rings, no markers
uncountable no trouble, no grass, no scenery, no money, no furniture
a lot of countable a lot of animals, a lot of coins, a lot of immigrants, a lot of babies
uncountable a lot of help, a lot of aggravation, a lot of happiness, a lot of fun
lots of countable lots of computers, lots of buses, lots of parties, lots of colleges
uncountable lots of cake, lots of ice cream, lots of energy, lots of laughter
enough countable enough plates, enough onions, enough restaurants, enough worries
uncountable enough courage, enough wisdom, enough spaghetti, enough time
plenty of countable plenty of houses, plenty of concerts, plenty of guitars, plenty of
uncountable plenty of oil, plenty of sugar, plenty of cheese, plenty of space
word   with a countable noun?   with an uncountable noun?   examples 
few, fewer ✓ ✗ fewer students; few cars
little, less, least ✗ ✓ less food; little time
many, several ✓ ✗ several books; many changes
much ✗ ✓ much pleasure; much sleep

Managing People Is Like Herding Cats

An idiom denoting a futile attempt to control or organize a class of entities which are inherently uncontrollable – as in the difficulty of attempting to command a large number of cats into a group (herd).

Doing something is like herding cats refers to any activity which is extremely difficult and quite possibly futile, suggesting there are wildly unpredictable forces at play. It’s most often used when referring to managing a given group of people, especially programmers, or managing a software project.

The Washington Post Magazine of 9 June 1985 is often quoted as the earliest use in print:

At Group L, Stoffel oversees six first-rate programmers, a managerial challenge roughly comparable to herding cats.

Warren Bennis’s book Managing People Is Like Herding Cats helped to popularise the term herding cats. He said “Be humble. Stop trying to herd cats and start building trust and mutual respect. Your cats will respond. They will sense your purpose, keep your business purring, and even kill your rats.”

Herding Cats (or Cat Herders) is a popular advertisement that is often used to illustrate the complexity of managing business change.

How to pronounce Spread-Sheet and other “sp” and “ee” words?

The “spreadsheet” word comes up constantly in business. As a non-native English speaker you have to double the effort when getting your point across. A bad accent can be a downer. Accents can be subject to subtle forms of prejudice.

The long and short “i” sound causes problems for a lot of learners. Sometimes it can result in a funny, but unpleasant outcome for you if you are in a professional environment. For example between “sheet” and “shit” or piece and piss.

4 tips that should help you perfect your pronunciation of ‘spreadsheet’:

  • Break ‘spreadsheet’ down into sounds: [SPRED] + [SHEET]
  • Record yourself saying ‘spreadsheet’ and once you feel ready then go one step further recording full sentences.
  • Forget about your intonation at this stage: stress, rhythm and intonation patterns are not easy to master in English. If you haven’t mastered how to pronounce the word correctly trying to mimic the intonation can make more harm than good. Intonation is crucial to make others understand what you say, but pace yourself and be patient. It will come naturally at some point.
  • Work on word/sentence reduction: This might be the trick to help you out. Luckily, shorting the sentences it’s completely normal and part of everyday conversation in English.

British: The difference between the /i/ and /ee/ vowels

How to pronounce spreadsheet

You may want to improve your pronunciation of ”spreadsheet” by practising nearby words below . The initial “s” sound so hard for Spanish speakers:

spread / spring / spreading / spray / springs / spreads / sprang / sprint / sprouts / spraying / springfield / sprinkle / sprung / spreadsheets / sprayed / sprout / sprinkled / sprawling /springtime / sprays / springing / sprinkler / springboard / sprawl / sprouting / sprinkling / sprite / sprints / spruce

How to pronounce the s sound

Idioms from the heart and until your heart’s content

To your heart’s content means as much as you want; as long as you want; until you are completely satisfied and happy.

Until/to (one’s) heart’s content: Used since the 1500s.

Content means a state of satisfaction or peace while heart refers to one’s inner self. This idiom implies doing something until your heart is satisfied, peaceful, and happy. 3

Other idioms from the heart:

  • From the bottom of my heart: you are really grateful about something that someone has done for you.
  • With all my heart: giving a task everything you have got.
  • I have a soft spot in my heart for you: you are fond of them in some way. This is not normally in a romantic way.
  • Pouring my heart out: you open up emotionally by telling someone your story and how you really feel without holding anything back.
  • Wearing your heart on your sleeve: you are very open about how and what you feel.
  • I don’t have the heart to do that: when doing anything that you feel might upset or offend someone.

Shakespeare examples for Until/to (one’s) heart’s content:

Henry VI, Part II (1593)

“Her sight did ravish but her grace in speech,
Her word clad with wisdoms’ majesty,
Make me from wondering fall to weeping joys;
Such is the fulness of my heart’s content.”

Merchant of Venice, Act III (1596)

Lor. Faire thoughts and happy houres attend on you.
Ieffi. I wish your ladiship all heart’s content.
Por. I thanke you for your wish, and am well pleased.

Troilus and Cressida, Act I (1602)

“Then though my heart’s content firme love doth bear,
Nothing of that shall from mine eyes appear.”

Letter to Earl of Southampton:

“…if the first heir of my invention prove deformed, I shall be sorry it had so noble a godfather, and never after ear so barren a land, for fear it yield me still so bad a harvest. I leave it to your honourable survey, and your Honour to your heart’s content; which I wish may always answer your own wish, and the world’s hopeful expectation…”

Online examples: