A thread about bathing
Today in a 50s movie ("Niagara", Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotton) I heard the term "shower bath".
"I'm gonna take a shower bath."
Haven't heard that term in decades.
Why do we say "bath" but pronounce the act 'bay-thing'?
We wear 'bathing suits'.
Suits?
Maybe this comes from the times when women wore bathing suits that covered all?
Even men wore two-piece 'suits' for bay-thing.
Today even a Speedo or a thong could be a bathing 'suit'.
The Brits, however, wear bathing 'costumes'.
We were on vacation at a beach resort and my English friend said "I'll just get into my bathing costume."
The first thing that came to mind was someone in a clown costume body surfing.
More on showers:
I was visiting some friends in the Netherlands.
It had been a fairly long train trip from Amsterdam.
When we got to their home, Sitska asked "Do you want to freshen up after your trip.? Do you want a douche?"
When she saw my puzzled look she blushed..."No, no, no, that's not the word. Do you want a SHOWER?"
We laughed.
Bath, England
The city was first established as a spa with the Latin name, Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis"
by the Romans in AD 43, although verbal tradition suggests that Bath was known before then.[3] They built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills of Bath in the valley of the River Avon around hot springs.[4] Edgar was crowned king of England at Bath Abbey in 973.[5] Much later, it became popular as a spa town during the Georgian era, which led to a major expansion that left a heritage of exemplary Georgian architecture crafted from Bath Stone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath%2C_Somerset
Baden-Baden
It literally means 'bath-bath', or 'swim swim', depending on the translation.
Baden-Baden, Trinkhalle [Credit: Schuster—De Wys Inc.] city, Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies along the middle Oos River in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). Baden-Baden is one of the world’s great spas. Its Roman baths (parts of which survive) were built in the reign of Caracalla (ad 211–217) for the garrison of Strasbourg. The town fell into ruins but reappeared in 1112 as the seat (until 1705) of the margravate of Baden.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/48464/Baden-Baden
OK, I'm done.
Any bathing related stuff you want to share?
= new reply since forum marked as read
as "bathing suit" is?
I don't know why it's called a bathing "suit" anymore. This is what makes sense in regards to a "suit":
A bathing "outfit"? But why do we refer to bathing at all. We don't "bathe" in it - we usually swim so "swim suit" makes a little more sense anyway.
Shower bath - I've never heard it but it makes sense if it is a shower with a tub.
It's crazy.
