What do Americans call the BrE washbasin in the picture?

cftranslate · Post by **cftranslate** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 10:03 pm

I mean what's under the mirror which I think they call washbasin in England.

http://www.bosworthcaravanpark.co.uk/Re ... basin.jpeg

LarryLatham · Post by **LarryLatham** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 11:44 pm

The sink. The bathroom sink, if there's a need to distinguish it from the kitchen sink.

Larry Latham

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:16 am

It's the sink in Britain too, usually.

Harzer · Post by **Harzer** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 1:43 am

For me that thing in the photo is a handbasin or a washbasin - 'sink' is usually metal and used for cleaning things rather than my own bits and pieces; although from time to time after a hard day in the garden I would use the sink or the laundry trough as a handbasin.

Harzer

cftranslate · Post by **cftranslate** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 3:49 am

So this is becoming confusing:

1. I used to call that wasbasin or the dictionary translation for the Spanish word, lavatory. Does anybody here call that a lavatory?

2. Yesterday I left the forum certain to say sink, yes, a bathroom sink and a kitchen sink (made sense....).

3. Now Harzer comes up with his 'metal distinction and calls it a handbasin.

Ok here in Spain we have no doubt that thing in the photo is a 'lavabo' . Nobody would call it other way. (No idea what Latinamericans call it, though).

Any American positive about what his fellow native-speakers call that?
Thanks

Lorikeet · Post by **Lorikeet** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 3:54 am

cftranslate wrote:So this is becoming confusing:

1. I used to call that wasbasin or the dictionary translation for the Spanish word, lavatory. Does anybody here call that a lavatory?

2. Yesterday I left the forum certain to say sink, yes, a bathroom sink and a kitchen sink (made sense....).

3. Now Harzer comes up with his 'metal distinction and calls it a handbasin.

Ok here in Spain we have no doubt that thing in the photo is a 'lavabo' . Nobody would call it other way. (No idea what Latiamericans call it, though).

Any American positive about what his fellow native-speakers call that?
Thanks

A lavatory is a bathroom. I would use sink regardless of what it's made of, although I would understand washbasin. I don't think I've ever heard handbasin. I don't know where Harzer is from

I was born in the Midwest and live in California now. Where I come from they have couches and pop. In California it's sofas and soda. Who knows?

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 5:51 am

A lavatory is a bathroom

In America yes, because Americans are even more prudish than Brits, and use the euphemism bathroom when they really mean 'pissoir' or shithouse

Bot washbasin and sink are correct. I don't think the distinction as Harzer mentions is to do with the materail the sink is made off; that is almost coincidental. Some people feel sink should only be used for the kitchen variety.

Kugellager · Post by **Kugellager** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:56 pm

I would imagine, as Stephen has alluded to, that the term would vary some depending on what part of the American continent one came from. I most commonly hear sink used but have also heard washbasin used from time to time.

This thread brings to mind the geographic variation of the term used for carbonated beverages in North America. I'm sure some of you have see this unscientific survey link http://www.popvssoda.com/ that addresses the pop vs soda debate. There is also a link to a Harvard dialect survey at the bottom that I have viewed in the past but currently does not seem to be functional.

John

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 9:08 pm

"A lavatory is a bathroom".

I wonder what George Lakoff would have to say about that.

Anyway, I hope I haven't bored you guys with this little anecdote before: Long long ago, some distant American friends of one of my relatives came to visit our home in London. One of the visitors asked me if I could show her where the bathroom was. So, I dutifully lead her upstairs (passing the downstairs loo on the way, incidentally) and proudly showed her our grungy bathroom. 'Do you want to take a shower or something, then? I can get you a clean towel...' I began to offer. She just looked puzzled and then a bit amused before finally saying, 'Actually, I meant the toilet!'.

Luckily for her we had a second one upstairs too, right next to the bathroom.

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:11 pm

From: http://www.btinternet.com/~knutty.knigh ... uncil.html
Apparantly genuine letters to local councils and housing associations:
"The toilet is blocked and we cannot bath the children until it is cleared."

Will. · Post by **Will.** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 12:40 pm

just to confuse the issue further...
A basin,
A washbasin, I use this to wash the dishes in, do the washing-up in, in the sink. It is a plastic basin that fits inside the sink and allows one to remove the whole lot and still be able to use the sink for another purpose and not interrupt the process to catch up on the dishes.

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 12:55 pm

A washbasin, I use this to wash the dishes in, do the washing-up in, in the sink. It is a plastic basin that fits inside the sink and allows one to remove the whole lot and still be able to use the sink for another purpose and not interrupt the process to catch up on the dishes.

You have your location as London, which suggests British English. I'm from Cardiff originally, and to me you just described "a washing up bowl."

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 2:28 pm

I'm from London but I'd call what Will. described a washing up bowl also, Andy.

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 7:27 pm

With all these Londoners around, I can't resist the old joke, which sounds best in a strong *beep* accent:
(The word which now appears as "beep" translates as one born within the sound of Beau Bells, and is not as far as I know, offensive. But for some reason some software somewhere won't let me write it.)

Q: What's the difference between a buffalo and a bison?
A: You can't wash your 'ands in a buffalo, but you can in a basin.

With regard to places where we urinate and deficate, I think that you all need to look at a good etymology - most words are euphemistic, but become less so as time goes by. Some of your ideas simply don't hold water.

"Toilet" (first used 1695) comes from comes from the Middle French toilette (diminutive of toile, "cloth") and meant either a cloth which was put over the shoulders while dressing the hair or shaving or a cloth on which washing and shaving equipment was laid out. Toile itself comes from the Latin tela. This is thought to be a contraction of a possible earlier word: texla and, if so, toilet would then be related to our text and textile.

In the 19th centuary, "toilet" meant all the various things that one does to make one's self presentable including washing, brushing ones hair and applying perfume. People would say, "she's at her toilet," and would mean she's getting ready. This sense is still used with "toilet water", although understandably most people now prefer the term "eau de toilette." It was still current enough in the 1970's for Dino Shafeek to utter the line, "Well goodness gracious me! You are putting water from the toilet on your face!" The show was, of course, "Mind your Language," and was set in an EFL classroom. This was a pretty typical role for him.

The word "lavatory" originally meant a place to wash. I'm sure "bathroom" will seem less euphemistic eventually, I heard that Americans sometime use the term "comfort station". WC, seems to have travelled round most of the world. If you want all the terms at once along with terrible puns and double entendres, I would recommend watching the film "Carry on at your convienience."

That's enough writing for now, I'm feeling a bit flushed. Ironically, George Michael is being interviewed by Parkinson as I write. I wonder why he chose to call the album that he relieced after his arrest, "Ladies and Gentlemen."

Harzer · Post by **Harzer** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 12:38 am

Lorikeet!

I'm from Australia and I sit on a lounge, drink cool drink or soft drink, wash myself in the bathroom and used to go to the lavatory for a sh.t.

In the old days of U and non-U usage my parents were U-users and said 'lavatory' not 'toilet', 'tea' not 'dinner', 'serviette' not 'napkin' and so on, and therefore so did I.

But that has all gone by the board these days, and I now go to the toilet and have dinner in the evening - but I would still use a serviette in polite company.

The somewhat dated slang word for toilet in Australia is 'dunny'; the word '*beep*' is still very common amongst male speakers, and is also used adjectivally or adverbially to express displeasure with some turn of events like your football team losing in the last minutes of the game.

Harzer