Why do you say "go to the bathroom" and "go to the kitchen"?

Why do you say "go to the bathroom" and "go to the kitchen"?

Here is a story story. The answers upstairs and downstairs quoted many ancient things, which was very funny. In ancient times, the words "toilet" and "kitchen" were eloquent, and some of them were accompanied by pictures, which seemed to be true.

In my mind, the word "toilet" appeared only after liberation. I loved watching war movies when I was a child. When a soldier wants to be convenient, he says he's sorry. I'll be back when I go to the bathroom. When I caught the bad guy, I was happy to say that this guy was caught from the toilet.

Until liberation, people's lives got better and better. Of course, thatched pits built in the past are less and less common, and some can still be seen on fish ponds. Most people live in Daheyuan or Siheyuan, and convenient places are public. In order to name it, it's not nice to call it male hair. After all, it was not thatched, and later it was called a public toilet. Some public units, in order to prevent hooligans and perverts. Divide public toilets into men's toilets and women's toilets, generally male left and female right, and the door will be marked with the words "male" or "female". Entering the wrong public toilet is tantamount to playing hooligans. The police will order tea and laugh. Of course there is no such treatment.

As for why "going to the toilet" was said by a child at first. Their family lived in a building at that time. As we all know, the toilets in the building are one or two floors higher than the ground for installing toilet trays. The family was playing mahjong at that time. The two-year-old child is in a hurry and wants to go to the toilet by himself. Unexpectedly, he was tall and slippery, fell and bit his hand. The doctor asked what the reason was, and they all said it was dropped in the toilet. After hearing this, the doctor told them that children should pay attention to safety when going to the toilet in the future. Since then, people have gradually become accustomed to going to the toilet when it is convenient.

Go to the kitchen. Man struggles upwards, but water flows downwards. Yes, because where there is water in the kitchen, the floor must be lower than the hall, or it must be paved with cement. Therefore, going to the kitchen is also going to the kitchen.

Will the answer be less complicated?

"Up" and "down" should be verbs, meaning to go to the toilet at a high place and land in the kitchen.

As we all know, Duke Jing of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period (559-58 1 in front of the park) fell into a cesspit and died. It can be seen that the royal toilets at that time were very high from the ground, which could kill people, indicating that the toilet was by no means a small pit.

In the past, public toilets in the north of China were often built on a big pit to meet the needs of men, women and children, and at the same time, we collected everyone's achievements and used them. Human excrement is one of natural plant fertilizers, and waste is shameful. Now you can flush the toilet at any time by pressing the button. In the past, when there was no flush, the toilet set up not only solved the problem of loose smell of feces, but also ensured the cleanliness of toilet users themselves. Therefore, going to the toilet should be the concentrated expression of the above functions, and it has become a common saying that has been circulated so far.

The origin of the kitchen is believed to be related to the heatable adobe sleeping platform in many places in the north. Kang in the north is a heating facility at home. Eating and chatting during the day and sleeping and resting at night are inseparable from the kang. As the saying goes, it was once the ideal family life that many men yearned for. The heatable adobe sleeping platform is heated because it is connected with the kitchen stove. When cooking, the stove will transfer the generated heat to the heatable adobe sleeping platform for heating. Now, the heatable adobe sleeping platform of Korean families is still connected to the kitchen stove. When I got off the kang, I got off the stove. Look at the picture below.

With the development of society, there has been a saying of "going to the kitchen", and I have heard a little. But the saying of "going to the toilet" has not changed. Why?

Why are we used to saying "go to the bathroom and go to the kitchen"? Actually, it has something to do with the feng shui in the toilet and kitchen. There was no word "pit edge" in the pre-Qin period, otherwise the most wronged Duke Jing of Jin died. Fell into the toilet and drowned? Suffocate to death? Or does he stink? This kind of death is really embarrassing. The history book says, "Eat, get up, go to the toilet, and die." Historians may also be embarrassed. They struggled for a long time and wrote such words.

By the Han Dynasty, toilets had been greatly improved, often built in high places, with pedals on both sides of the toilet pit. The toilets in the Han Dynasty were often in the same place as the pigsty, or simply under the pigsty. It's quite space-saving

Toilet+pigsty

There are two toilets on the high platform. I wonder if this is divided into men's toilets and women's toilets.

A ceramic house with a circle, below which are a group of big pigs and little pigs.

But we can't take it for granted that the toilet is "going to the toilet" just because it is built in a high place. Toilets in the Han Dynasty were generally built in the east of the north yard, because the water level in the north and the wooden position in the east were five elements. In aquatic wood, the position of wood means farming. Considering the characteristics of accumulated fertilizer, the toilet was built here. Similarly, the east is wood and the south is fire, so the kitchen should be built in the east of the south. According to the map drawing method, there is a rule of "going to the toilet and going to the kitchen".

China, as a city with a history of 5,000 years, has had many fixed collocations since ancient times. Everyone will definitely notice a problem occasionally in their lives, and that is why "you have to go to the kitchen to go to the toilet". Can't it be "going to the bathroom and going to the kitchen"?

In fact, this is a sentence handed down from China, because in the primitive society of our country, most of the places where people live are crypt-style buildings, and most of the kitchens are set underground, so as to facilitate the smoke from burning charcoal cooking to be better discharged to high places. Folk call this method "pull the wind", and over time, people call it the kitchen.

The establishment of toilets is just the opposite. On the one hand, in order to better handle cleaning, many people's toilets are mostly set above the ground, which is conducive to the rapid spread of odor, so people are used to calling it "going to the toilet". Over time, this habit called "going to the toilet and going to the kitchen" has continued to this day.

With the development of social economy, great changes have taken place in people's living places. Most kitchens are located in the south, while toilets are located in the north. In addition, China's orientation theorem since ancient times, "north to south, left to west and right to east", because it is also circulated that "go to the toilet and go to the kitchen".

I think we can answer this question from two aspects. First, from the perspective of culture and geomantic omen, the north has been superior since ancient times. So in the northern plain, the house always faces south, and the dining table is placed in the living room. Those who grew up at home also took their seats. Therefore, the emperor also has the saying that his back is facing the emperor. The south is in a lower position, so courtiers worship the emperor in the south of the emperor. Usually, the younger generation eats in the south. So it later expanded to the south, such as Jiangnan. Going north means going up, such as going north to resist Japan. According to the habit of geomantic omen, the ancients built kitchens, all of which were built in the south of the main hall. Naturally, going to the kitchen becomes the kitchen. From the perspective of geomantic omen, the toilet should be built in the north of the main hall, and going to the toilet naturally becomes going to the toilet.

Secondly, from the perspective of real life, why must the toilet be built behind the main hall and why should the kitchen be built to the south of the main hall? Because the gate faces south, most parts of our country have monsoon climate, with the hottest summer and long southerly winds. It's cold in winter, and it's basically blown by the north wind, and summer is also the climate with the heaviest smell of toilets. If it is built in the south, it will be unlucky to blow all the smells into the hall. If the kitchen is built in the south, it will smell of food. Although the toilet smells in winter, it is much lighter than in summer, and it has a back wall, so it can hardly be smelled even if the north wind is cold. So before the kitchen is built and after the toilet is built, it is of practical significance.

I wonder if this answer is satisfactory?

The acquired gossip is an application, mainly used in the prediction of the Book of Changes and geomantic omen. It is directional, and the theory of traditional Chinese medicine also comes from it, so "medicine is easy to be homologous". The north is an endorsement of strength in geomantic omen. Since ancient times, emperors have always sat facing south to show their supreme dignity. Therefore, courtiers should worship the north to show their respect. Traditional Chinese medicine compares this strength to the vitality of the body. A healthy body comes from this energy, which is the kidney in the five internal organs and the supreme ruler. The kidney is the surface of the bladder meridian and is sealed by it, so people go to the toilet, which is "moving the kidney" in geomantic omen, with the hall of fame (Suzaku Square) in the south and red in Zhu. Since ancient times, red represents auspiciousness, birds fly and represent radiant flames. For emperors, the south symbolizes the wishes and totems of rulers. Fire is a symbol of human civilization, because cooking can use fire, and it is also a leap from raw food to cooked food. Therefore, eating is the instinct of people living at the bottom, and it is a symbol of the significance of the South. "The granary knows etiquette, food and clothing know honor and disgrace", which means that people will learn etiquette to correct themselves only when they have plenty of food and clothing, and understand that the minimum standard for people to come to the world is to be a devotee, not just to eat (enjoy). This means something deeper, so it's called "going to the kitchen".

Ancient fire pits and kindling were dug and stored, so the fire was in the lower position, the fire was in the lower position, and people were most heated in the upper position, so it was called the fire at the fire source. When there is a fire room, it is also called a fire room. Now the fire room is a kitchen.

In ancient times, animals were sacrifices, which were called "offerings" at the time of sacrifice, and barns were built under houses. At present, the houses where animals and people live are called "high-legged houses" or "pole houses", while the side houses are built in the cowshed, and the houses where animals are raised are called "upper fences", so the places where animals go to both sides are also called "upper fences". Both livestock and animals retain the concept of sacrifice, and the highest specifications are cattle, sheep and pigs of the three livestock. So, although they went to the barn and the house, they were said to be in the barn.

Another reason is that livestock is one of the greatest wealth in the agricultural era, so the number of mules, horses, cows, sheep, donkeys and pigs at home is a sign of wealth, so the number of livestock is valuable, even the strength of a country is expressed by the number of mules and horses, but the book is written thousands of times that of a country.

Therefore, the fire house below and the barn above were replaced by the kitchen below and the barn above.

After Wukong asks, let's leave something on it.

Usually when we go to the toilet, we usually tell people that we are going to the toilet, or we are going to the kitchen to cook. We all said we were going to the kitchen to cook a dish. Why is it called this? Is it because it is too smooth? Not exactly.

In ancient China, there were five elements: gold, wood, water, fire and earth, which had a great influence on later Chinese medicine and the future. The wisdom of the ancients is quite admirable, and the five elements just correspond to the five directions of east, west, north and south.

So in ancient times, houses were built according to the orientation of geomantic omen. Ancient toilets were mostly built in the east of the north, and kitchens were built in the east of the south. Traveling to the south is customarily said to be the south (the emperor went down to the south) and going to the north is customarily said to be the north (the north resisted Japan), which is quite different.

So when we want to go to the toilet, we will go to the north of the yard, so we will say to go to the toilet. When you want to go to the kitchen, you have to go to the south of the yard, so the kitchen is not called Shun, it is decided according to the orientation.

In ancient times, poor people had no money to build toilets. If the poor can manage three meals a day, they will burn high incense. People with money or power, who have no worries about food and clothing, naturally pay more attention to the details of life than ordinary people. People who can have toilets are either rich or expensive. In order to distinguish themselves from the poor, they use the word "business" to show that they are superior to ordinary people.

The same goes for the kitchen. Rich people don't or seldom go to the kitchen to cook by themselves. Generally, it is your servant or servant who cooks. The word "Xia" has a contemptuous meaning, but it has lost its meaning over time.

According to the traditional culture of China, the north is generally called "Shang" and the south is called "Xia". Toilets are generally built in the north of quadrangles, so they are called "going to the toilet"; The kitchen is usually built in the south of the quadrangle, so it is called "lower kitchen". Similarly, Beijing is in the north of China, which we generally call "going to Beijing"; Yangzhou, Jiangsu is in the south of China. We usually call it "going to Yangzhou"-fireworks will go to Yangzhou for this purpose in March.