Lissette Lorenz

I experienced a precious moment at school this week. A student walked up to my desk in class and asked in Japanese, “How do you say 大便 in English? ‘Big toilet?’ I need big toilet.” I wasn’t sure what he meant, though I had an idea. I asked him to explain. He drew the following (which I have translated and enhanced for effect):

Many Japanese toilets have two flush options, which are indicated by the kanji for small, 小, shou, or large 大, dai, on the handle. I told my student that in the US most of our toilets aren’t nearly as fancy as all that, but that we do have a similar verbal system for times when we want to explain what kind of business we need to take care of without saying “I need to take a ¥&@$.” I equated 小 with “#1” and 大 with “#2.” Hey found our cultural differences fascinating. Then he said he needed to go #2 and came back almost thirty minutes later looking much relieved. As he re-entered the classroom he told me about a wonderful toilet he discovered in the building across from us. It must have been a really 大#2 if it required him to exit the building.