This is one of my favorite stories ever.
My freshman year, I lived in Deseret Towers. For those who don't know, DT are towering dorm buildings that have about forty girls per floor. Each floor also has two bathrooms, with a few shower stalls and a few toilet stalls and several sinks.
One day, we all had to get together for a mandatory floor meeting at which several things were to be discussed. During this meeting, our Residence Assistant said the following:
"I don't know how it is in the other bathroom on this floor--" (she lived on one side of the floor, so she didn't use the same bathroom that I did) "--but in our bathroom, girls are leaving their crap all the time."
I had a horrible image of girls not flushing That Which Should Be Flushed and started looking around to see who all lived on that side of the floor and figuring out who among them would be a non-flusher. The RA continued:
"There's crap left in the stalls. There's crap in the showers. There's crap all over the sinks."
I was absolutely horrified. This was not a matter of non-flushing. This was absolute, deliberate, utter filth and I wanted to know who on that side of the floor was doing it, and why the first time I heard about it was at a floor meeting.
And as I sat, trying to judge my neighbors, someone started to laugh. And then someone else started to laugh. One by one, those who'd been confused began to realize that by "crap," our RA meant "stuff."
7 comments:
Just one of the many reasons I prefer to use "stuff" before "crap"...who knows how things could be misinterpreted!
I must admit that I overuse the word 'crap', which is another reason why I will never be poised and self-confident. But the use of the word 'crap' does make things interesting and memorable - for example, do you remember any other mandatory floor meetings?
On a related subject, I was not very keen on living with a lot of other women, and was constantly involved in petty dorm squabbles, like the girl who thought I was always hitting on her boyfriend, which I was, but not successfully, so no harm, no foul, right?
I really am a good person. Now.
When I was little, we weren't allowed to use the word "crap." I still avoid saying it and I have to admit that when I do I kind of stumble over it.
At least now I have an excuse. Sometimes we all must sacrifice in the name of clarity.
How could someone use the word "crap" in reference to a bathroom and not mean it literally? It really boggles the mind.
Wow. Wow.
this made me smile.
when we were younger we weren't supposed to say crap- but I thought of it as a non-swear word and it became used fairly regularly. (other non-swears or almost swears included pissed, ticked, dang it, stupid head, and on very rare occasions freakin)
As a freshman one of the girls who lived on the other side of the floor coined the term "mormon swear" in relation to me.
Now I just actually swear.
I hear that the elevators in U Hall are haunted.
I never had the dorm experience. Did I miss out?
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