Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 09:07:24 EST

From: Robin Garr 76702.764[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]COMPUSERVE.COM

Subject: Re: Lavatory = ?



Having never thought much about it before,



Why, me, either! :^)



... I, a 53-year-old native Mississippian, have always said "lavatory" for

the bathroom fixture and "sink" for the same fixture in the kitchen and that

I've heard "bathroom sink" but never "kitchen lavatory."



I suspect region rather than age, being a native Kentuckian of identical vintage

who has never said "lavatory" for the bathroom fixture. However, your

observation about the null state of "kitchen lavatory" lends credibility to the

premise that the bathroom contains more euphemisms per square foot than any

other room in the house. (For what it's worth, though, we simply called the

toilet "the toilet." For some reason, my mother considered the term "commode"

trashy.)