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Date: | Fri, 21 Jul 2000 10:10:54 -0400 |
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In support of the Australian writer who noted changes in backyard and house
use, I was talking to an older man who grew up in the Berkshire Mountains
of Massachusetts about his life there as a child -- where they dumped their
garbage ("down the hill behind Uncle Joe's house") and such -- and the
subject of privies came up. I asked about when they got indoor plumbing
and he said "You know, when I was a kid, we sat in the house and shat in
the yard. Now we sit in the yard and shit in the house." A succinct
commentary on changes in use of space and perceptions of cleanliness.
And as another contribution to the personal anecdotes, I grew up on a
small, inner village farm where there was an operating outhouse until the
1970s. An indoor bathroom was installed in the 1930s, at the insistence of
the young women of the family, but the older members continued to use the
"pookamon" (and if anybody knows where this word comes from I would
appreciate hearing).
Meta Janowitz
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