Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Today in the OED

Thumbing through the Oxford trying to do some work, I came across this definition:

natatorium. n. N. Amer. a swimming pool.

Show me one North American who has ever said “I’m going for a dip in the natatorium”. This Oxford is for the birds.

6 comments:

cityofmushrooms said...

it's like a victorian word for one of those "bathing machines" (ie so women could daringly swim in the ocean modestly)

Anonymous said...

For what its worth, my Collins Dictionary doesn't have that word, but it does that natatorial, natator and natatory and yes, they're all do to with swimming! Does that mean we have the World Natator Championships on here at the moment?

Anonymous said...

For fun, go to Bikini Village and ask for a one-piece natatorial suit. See how the sixteen-year old clerks react.

JAW fan

NB: Haven't decided if Bikini Village is a cool name or a lame name for a store.

Nanuk of the North, older but no wiser said...

Do they sell one-pieces at Bikini Village? If so, then their name is false advertising.

cityofmushrooms said...

"one-piece village" is not a very exciting name

cityofmushrooms said...

"one-piece village" is not a very exciting name