"Mti upo kati ya nyumba na choo"
Translation:The tree is between the house and the toilet
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438
@Ivoryblossum, which part of Zambia was that? I'm Zambian, 50+ years old and learning of this practice now.
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Would "choo" also translate as "outhouse" in this case? I'm assuming "bafu" refers to indoor plumbing, I just wondered if this would be the most natural way of referring to outdoor plumbing.
'Choo' = lavatory or latrine, so I'm not sure that outhouse would be strictly correct - outhouse could mean any building or construction (with a roof) outside of the main dwelling and may not even have any plumbing! A latrine is normally a hole in the ground (deep or shallow) which may be surrounded by a screen (no roof) of some sort for privacy... I think this is a good sentence because it has been 'localized' - there is often a tree between the house and the latrine!. 'bafu' could also mean a tin bath - no plumbing - filled up with debes of hot water!
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I suppose bathrooms are subject to a lot of colloquialisms across cultures. It occurred to me after I wrote the above comment, that some regions do refer to an "outhouse" as the "toilet" while my region usually reserves "the toilet" for the commode itself.