Why is the toilet called "go to the lavatory"?

The word "go to the lavatory" had no convenient meaning. In the Ming Dynasty, for the sake of serious examination discipline, the relevant departments stipulated that when candidates were in a hurry, they must receive a sign with the words "Going out to respect" and enter and leave the toilet and examination room with the card. Therefore, scholars called the toilet "getting the go to the lavatory card" or "go to the lavatory" for short to show their convenience.

Understanding that "Jingjie" China is an ancient civilization after all. Although the status of toilets is low, there are many sayings about going to the toilet, such as defecation, cleaning, changing clothes, go to the lavatory, etc., which are full of rich cultural connotations.

There is a story. It is said that Mr. Yu Youren, a veteran of the Revolution of 1911 and a great calligrapher, was very angry when he saw someone urinating in the corner of his yard, so he wrote down a few big words: "Don't urinate everywhere" and asked his attendants to stick them on the wall for deterrent effect. Attendants saw the old man's Mo Bao hard to give up, so they asked someone to write a picture and post it, carefully framed the notice and hung it in their own hall. Everyone praised it, because "Don't pee everywhere" was reordered and became an adage: "Don't be careless in small places". The answer lies in why some people today are so obsessed with ranking.

Like many celebrity anecdotes, it is hard to tell whether it is true or false that you should not pee everywhere. But one thing is certain, convenience everywhere is really annoying, especially when your doorstep becomes a drowning place for some people to enjoy themselves.

China is an ancient country with a long history and a long aftertaste due to the planning and construction of "convenient facilities". In "Zhou Li Tian Guan", there is a record that "the imperial secretary is in charge of the cultivation of Wang Liu's bedroom, which is for his well and well, except that it does not get rid of its stench". The "well" here is not a well, but a "leaking well", which is a bit like a urinal now, while "well" is a toilet with a pit. One of the tasks of imperial secretary is to wash and clean the "convenient" place. However, for the "bathroom" ranked in the top of modern rooms, the ancients seem to be very serious. It is clearly pointed out in "Zhuangzi Geng Sangchu": "Those who look at the room are surrounded by sleeping in the temple, and they are suitable for it." It means to visit the living room, as long as you look at the place where you live, it's almost the same. As for the toilet, it's ambiguous to see it or not.

there are reasons why the ancients disdained to visit the toilet. Toilet users, the side, that is, the side wing of the regular living room, are not serious places. In the pottery funerary wares of the Han dynasty, the suburb of the toilet is often a pigsty. Such boundaries are indeed visible but not visible. ? Its low status actually brought a lot of troubles to the lives of the ancients. Not to mention the inconvenience and discomfort in use, it may even lead to a major accident. According to Zuo Zhuan, before eating, Duke Jing of Jin once "went to the toilet and died" because of his bloated stomach, and it took a long time to be discovered. The monarch of a country has fallen into the toilet, which is the best in the world. Ancient civilizations, in fact, also have a variety of uncivilized.

in the history of China, there are also people who are determined to improve their status as "Jing". The toilet of Princess Wuyang, the daughter of Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, is very classy. A paint box is set in the bathroom to hold dried dates for the toilet users to plug their nostrils; After everything is finished, there is also a maid carrying a golden bath tray filled with water and a glass bowl filled with bath beans for people to wash their hands and faces, which is more thoughtful than a five-star hotel. This kind of toilet is probably a "rare animal", so Wang Dun, the husband of Princess Wuyang, went to the toilet for the first time after marriage, and even ate jujube as an ordinary fruit, and also took bath beans as dry rice, and poured them into the golden bath plate and drank them. "The maids all laughed."

The toilet of Shi Chong, the richest man in the Western Jin Dynasty, is even better. According to Shi Shuo Xin Yu, "There are often more than ten maids in toilets in Shi Chong, all of whom are beautifully dressed and decorated with algae. Jiajia fried powder and agarwood juice are all ready. Also with the new clothes. Guests are too ashamed to go to the toilet. General Wang went, took off his old clothes and put on new clothes, looking proud. " General Wang is the Wang Dun. Without some experience in his own toilet, it is estimated that he would not "look proudly".

Although this kind of toilet is luxurious, it doesn't seem to solve the biggest distress of going to the toilet-the smell is pervasive, so it is necessary to plug the nose, prepare spices and cover it. Shi Chong asked the guests to change clothes after relieving themselves, in order to prevent the odor from being brought out and affecting the external environment. Due to the lack of the overall design of toilet reform at that time, there was no substantial breakthrough in deodorization, flushing, pipeline installation, urine and feces treatment, etc., so although a lot of money was spent, the odor still existed. By the time the war broke out and the richest man finished playing, these luxury toilets would be gone.

China is, after all, an ancient civilization. Although the status of toilets is low and low, there are quite a few sayings about going to the toilet, such as toilet, cleaning, changing clothes and go to the lavatory, which are full of rich cultural connotations. The word "go to the lavatory" had no convenient meaning. In the Ming Dynasty, for the sake of serious examination discipline, the relevant departments stipulated that when candidates were in a hurry, they must receive a sign with the words "going out to respect" and enter and leave the toilet and examination room with the card. Therefore, scholars called the toilet "getting the go to the lavatory card", or "go to the lavatory" for short, to show their convenience and uniqueness. Later, it became a popular song.

There's a joke in "Essays of a Master of Lingxiao". It was said that there were three people who wrote poems on the topic of "go to the lavatory". One person said, "The wind blows your ass and cold air enters your bladder"; One person said, "The urine on the side of the board flows quickly, and the dung falls late in the pit"; Another person said, "Seven strict precepts for women, and four products are sealed by husbands." The former is of high style and has the charm of Tang people; Although the middle one is cut and physically inferior, it is close to the Song school; The latter is devoted to the topic and abandons the theme, which is the way to try to post poems.

Like the eight-part essay, the trial poem is a necessary subject for the provincial examination in the Qing Dynasty, which is generally five words and eight rhymes. Its basic requirement is that the first and second couplets must point out the topic, and the knot must have praise words. Whether there is substance or not, no matter. Seven strict precepts for women refer to the saying that the ancients divorced their wives with seven "out"; Four products were sealed by the husband, which means that the official principal office of four products in Qing Dynasty can be sealed as a "respectful" person. In this way, the poem title of "go to the lavatory" was deducted, which fully met the requirements.

Today, the poems about trial posts have long since passed away with the imperial examination system, but the rest of the rhymes are still there. If you don't believe me, you might as well look for a newspaper and go to the bookstore.