June 26, 2002

Off to Aberdeen

I’m off to Aberdeen, the home of the UK oil industry. Can’t wait!! I hope to find some good uisge beatha there as well; that’s water of life, or whisky in English.

British Euphemisms

One of the charming and fascinating things about British culture is the contradictory use of euphemisms for some things, and brutally frank phrasings for other things. The word “toilet” is one such contradiction — whereas we Americans say “restroom” or “ladies room”, even properly-brought-up Brits will say “excuse me, where is the toilet?” I must …

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