Spot the frippet: dunny.

Where would you find a dunny?

Well, it depends.

If you're a Scot then a dunny is a cellar or basement, so all you have to do is find a building with an underground room.

If you're English then you might not be aware of the word dunny, but it's a shortened form of dunnakin. This may sound as if it should be some sort of gnome-like being, but it's actually a lavatory.

If you're in New Zealand or Australia, then a dunny will also be a lavatory, though specifically an outside non-flushing one.

Norman Park, Queensland, 1960s, showing lines of dunnies behind the houses.

So visitors Downunder take note. 

 

Unless, that is, you want to commune with nature in more ways then one.

Spot the frippet: dunny. This word is a bit of a mystery, but may be connected with dung, which comes from the Old High German word tunc, cellar roofed with dung. Though why anyone would want to roof a cellar with dung I cannot for the life of me imagine.