キャンプ

Camp is an adjective describing character and behaviour. Camp is a mixture of:

• feminine
• extrovert
• flamboyant
• theatrical

Camp describes men who behave like women, especially gay men, with exaggerated feminine mannerisms. Such men are often popular entertainers because people find their behaviour and style amusing.

杓子定規

• pedantic
• split hairs

Examples:

• They are nearly the same so please don't split hairs.
• Sorry to split hairs but rabbits are different.

トイレ

There are several words for toilet.

Toilet is the most common word and means the machine or the room.

Loo 「ルー」is a very common word and means the machine or the room.

WC is less common in conversation but used a lot for signs. WC is water closet and means the room not the machine.

The bathroom is used mainly in the USA.

The bog is crude slang.

In a public place, there are different words for male and female toilets.

Male:

• The gents (spoken only)
• The men's room (spoken only)
• Gentleman (sign only)
• Men (sign only)
• The little boys' room (spoken only; very polite)

Female:

• The ladies (spoken only)
• The ladies' room (spoken only)
• Ladies (sign only)
• Women (sign only)
• The powder room (spoken only; old-fashioned)

When a woman goes to the toilet, she can use the polite expression "I'm going to powder my nose."

大掃除

Spring cleaning

In Japan, people do major cleaning at the end of the year. Traditionally in Britain, we do major cleaning in spring and we call this spring cleaning. When spring arrives after the long cold dark winter and the weather and daylight improves, we open all the windows and doors and clean the whole house.

There is not a special day for spring cleaning or any deadline.

Example sentences:

• I'm going to do spring cleaning at the weekend.
• It's time for a spring clean.
• Last Saturday, I was busy doing the spring cleaning.

ゴールデンウイーク

Golden Week is only in Japan. I wonder why this holiday period is called Golden Week, especially why in English. Japan has more public holidays than Britain but British people have more paid leave from work.

In Britain, there are two holidays in May:

• May Day, celebrated on the first Monday in May
• Whitsun, celebrated on the last Monday in May

May Day is an ancient festival of spring and fertility, and pre-dates Christianity. There are traditional outdoor parties, a maypole and morris dancing.

Whitsun is a Christian festival and actually celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter, but the last Monday in May is designated Whitsun public holiday. There is no special event or celebration; people just enjoy a day off work. Many schools and colleges close for the week so children enjoy this time.

Morris Dancing