--- title: Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions and age and looks — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions and age and looks», a lesson of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: This lesson finishes the toilet words and starts the words for getting old. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/) / Soft words for hard things: the toilet… # Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions and age and looks Lesson 8 of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school: 23 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/0/) — This lesson finishes the toilet words and starts the words for getting old. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/1/) — For the toilet, people pick a polite name ("lavatory"), a sailor's word ("the head") or a joke ("the smallest room"). - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/2/) — For age, people are kind ("golden years"), official ("senior citizen"), or cheeky ("no spring chicken", "over the hill"). - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/3/) — Vivid example: a birthday card for Dad's 50th shows a car rolling down a hill and says "Over the hill!" — he is not on a hill; the joke means he is getting old. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/4/) — Advertisers and officials like soft age words too: "mature students" or "senior discount" sound nicer than "old students" or "old people's discount". - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/5/) — "The gents" is the everyday British name for the men's toilet. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/6/) — "The ladies" is the everyday British name for the women's toilet. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/7/) — "The head" is the sailors' word for the toilet on a boat or ship. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/8/) — "The smallest room" is a joking British name for the toilet. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/9/) — "Relieve oneself" is a polite way to say urinate or poo. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/10/) — "Take a leak" is slang for urinate. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/11/) — "Wee" is the British everyday word for urine or to urinate, often used with children. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/12/) — "Bowel movement" is the doctor's word for a poo. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/13/) — "Lavatory" is a polite, old word for the toilet. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/14/) — "The privy" is an old word for an outdoor toilet. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/15/) — "Senior citizen" is the official term for an old person, often over 60 or 65. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/17/) — "Of a certain age" politely means middle-aged or older, without saying the number. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/18/) — "Getting on" means growing old. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/19/) — "Golden years" means old age, the years after retirement. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/21/) — "Long in the tooth" is a joking way to say old; old horses' gums shrink, so their teeth look long. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/22/) — "No spring chicken" is a joking way to say not young any more. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/23/) — "Over the hill" is a joking way to say past one's best because of age. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/24/) — "Mature" in adverts and dating means older, for example "mature students". - ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/7-wind-sick-and-runs/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: age and looks and weight](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)