Privy

[Hilarity_N.Suze]

The farmhouse my grandmother grew up in was still in the family when I was a kid, and there was still an outhouse.

It was a very fancy outhouse–3-holer, with ventilation. And spiders. (Well, probably). They weren’t just holes, there were seats on them, with lids. There was a bucket of lime in the corner with a scoop, to pour in after you were done.

By the time I went there as a kid they had the “new” house up and the old homestead was just used for storage of antiques (as I thought of them–but, come to think of it, they were). And the “new” house–built in the 1950s–had plumbing, and 'lectricity and all. But only one bathroom.

It used to amaze me that my grandmother grew up there with her 10 siblings, in that one-room house. According to her, they split it up with room dividers, as needed. When I saw it, it was one big room, with a loft over about 1/3 of it.

There was actual toilet paper in the privy, though, in case anyone had an urgent need while someone was taking a long bath in the new house. My grandmother said newspapers were better than the Monkey Wards catalogue anyhow.

My cousins and I all dared each other to go in there, and I think we all did, approximately once apiece.

The other family farm, the one from my grandfather’s side, had a bathroom with sink and toilet. However, although they had a sink and tub and toilet, they didn’t have water to the place until 1957! They put the appliances in before realizing what it was going to take to reroute the well and add a pump that could handle it.

When I was in college, in the early '70s, I went home with a friend for the weekend. At her place there was a sink, but the water was not piped into the house. It came in through a hose (why they could do a hose and not pipe the kitchen sink, I do not know) and the sink water drained right outside the kitchen window. They didn’t have a proper bathroom, either.

I will say, when my grandmother and all my great-aunts grew up, and got married, and had their own places, one place they did not stint was on the bathroom. My grandmother had a palace of a bathroom as the main bathroom in the house I remember, where she lived until she died, and there were two other bathrooms as well. This bathroom had a separate room for the tub, and another separate room for the shower, and an entire wall of slots for reading material next to the toilet, which was enclosed in its own room, with a door. My great-aunts had similar indulgences, including a fireplace in the bathroom in one case. I think this was because of their early deprivation.

[missred]

My grandparents in rural northern Indiana didn’t get electricity until 1970 and indoor plumbing until 1971.

They cooked and refridgerated with propane and used a hand pump for water. There was a WPA outhouse about 50 feet from the house (one holer) that the honeydipper would come out to periodically to remove waste from. At night, we used chamberpots inside of the house so that we didn’t have to go outside. As far back as I remember, there was always TP in the privy though.

I remember getting waled on by my granny once when I was little for convincing my little sister to fish out a ball that wound up down the hole of the commode. Considering what Sis wound up covered in, I’m surprised Granny let me live!

[schnuckiputzi]

My grandparents never had indoor plumbing (mid-70’s), but they did have a very nice three-holer, with the third seat built low for the smaller kiddies. I was more frightened of the wasps that buzzed around the peak of the roof in the summer than I was of spiders. I remember crouching very low to be out of their range. We had a bucket of cobs, an old Sears catalogue on a wire, and some toilet paper for company. I hated going by myself, because the turkey pen was close by, and I was terrified of the things because they were very aggressive and territorial.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@Hilarity_N.Suze

<snip>

I will say, when my grandmother and all my great-aunts grew up, and got married, and had their own places, one place they did not stint was on the bathroom. My grandmother had a palace of a bathroom as the main bathroom in the house I remember, where she lived until she died, and there were two other bathrooms as well. This bathroom had a separate room for the tub, and another separate room for the shower, and an entire wall of slots for reading material next to the toilet, which was enclosed in its own room, with a door. My great-aunts had similar indulgences, including a fireplace in the bathroom in one case. I think this was because of their early deprivation.

Heh - Jim and I have an unfinished basement, and we are making elaborate plans for the bathroom addition down there to be quite fancy - I call it the spa room. We also had a family of seven and one bathroom without a flush toilet - I hadn’t made any connection between my planning a fancy bathroom and our earlier bathroom conditions.

[Lanzy]

My family did not have ANY running water in the house until I was 16. Outhouses were used as a matter of course. One of the houses we lived in with an outhouse was actually in the city limits. All I can say is in the winter time you did your business quick. And we did have a sears catalog as standard toilet paper.

[KlondikeGeoff]

@missred

At night, we used chamberpots inside of the house so that we didn’t have to go outside.

Oh my, yes, I forgot chamber pots (somtimes called thunder mugs). Oh, for “the good old days.”

Back in the 50s we went tinto an antique shop once and saw a chamber pot for sale. It was described as a soup tureen.

[Shagnasty]

I was born in 1973 and my best friend’s grandparents still had an outhouse that was maintained until the 1980’s. I am not sure why because they did have an actual bathroom in their (very rustic) house at that point but it was fully stocked with dried corncobs up until his grandmother died in 1984 and we used it. They must have been wealthy by their standards because it was a two-holer. I know the term privy as well. Kids today didn’t get to see such a transition. I could go from programming on my Commodore 64 to using an authentic outhouse in the same day.

[Kyla]

I used to live in the rural Balkans, so yeah, I’ve used privies.

[Olentzero]

I’ve used privies on occasion - Boy Scout camp and the like. My maternal grandmother, who was born in Cleveland in 1915 and moved to rural Massachusetts in 1922, ended up using one as well:

@Grandma's Autobiography

Mother took us to another kitchen door we hadn’t noticed and out into a dim shed. At the further end was another tiny room with a door which she opened for us to look into. There was nothing but a bench that had two holes and far below was messy dirt. “Is this supposed to be the bathroom? Where is the bathtub and sink?” I was horrified. “I don’t like this; I want to go home.” Mother’s tired voice stopped me. “You might as well get used to it.” and she waited until each had a turn.

[Cicero]

We had the one hole thunder box when I was growing up- that would have been into the sixties. Dad used to cut up newspaper instead of toilet paper.

Not just the smell, but in a tropical climate, the maggots that would breed in there.

[Lanzy]

Well, if you have a two-holer, we know you’re friendly.

[Magicicada]

My grandparents didn’t have indoor plumbing until 1979, and that was only because they moved someplace that happened to have it. I lived with them my early childhood so I became used to outhouses.

Later on when I was back with my Mom we lived in an old house that had had plumbing put in at some point but still had a standing outhouse. It was a really nice one, too, made of concrete block, with a window. Evidently the window was just to let light in, because it did not open. The most puzzling aspect about it was that the wooden frame of the window was only outside of the building…and there was no evidence that any holes had been drilled into the cement inside…which means the curtain for this window had to have been hung outside, where just anyone could push it aside.

I obsessed over this for years, despite my mother’s insistence that no one peeps into an outhouse.

And then I finally realized it probably didn’t have curtains at all.:eek:

[Pulp_Friction]

As a kid we’d vacation every year at my grandparents home in Alberta. They had an indoor bathroom, but maintained the outhouse that pre-dated it. Funny enough, folks used either/or without much thought.

I preferred the outhouse; that’s where gramps stashed his nudist magazines.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@sweetie pea

<snip> It was a really nice one, too, made of concrete block, with a window. Evidently the window was just to let light in, because it did not open. <snip>

Ooh, looks who’s all fancy, with their concrete block outhouse with a window.

I can actually see why people would still maintain an outhouse, especially on a working farm or such like. Who wants to track through the house when all you need is a quick pee?

[Magicicada]

@Cat_Whisperer

Ooh, looks who’s all fancy, with their concrete block outhouse with a window.

Oh, it’s even fancier now. When my Mom put in her new doublewide, she took down all the other outbuildings but left the concrete block outhouse, and now it’s a potting shed.

[Small_Hen]

What’s all this ‘one hole, two hole, three hole’ stuff? Are you refering to the number of seats? Why would one outhouse need more than one?

-Hen, who has never been in an actual outhouse.

[missred]

@Small_Hen

What’s all this ‘one hole, two hole, three hole’ stuff? Are you refering to the number of seats? Why would one outhouse need more than one?

-Hen, who has never been in an actual outhouse.

Many times, there was one hole the correct height and size for adults and one hole a bit lower and smaller for kids. I’m not really sure where the three holers come in though.

[Darryl_Lict]

@Small_Hen

What’s all this ‘one hole, two hole, three hole’ stuff? Are you refering to the number of seats? Why would one outhouse need more than one?

-Hen, who has never been in an actual outhouse.

The family that shits together stays together.

Has anyone heard of the term kibo used for outhouse? Sort of pronounced KI-bow. This was the term my brother picked up from the boy scouts in SoCal in the late 60’s, and was the term used by my entire family throughout my childhood.

[dangermom]

Girl Scout camp in the 80’s, yes indeed. We called them biffys, I don’t know why.

[Ignatz]

Then there are the two-story ones (first floor for republicans, walkup for the democrats).

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4SUNA_enUS264US264&q=two-story+outhouse