[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by PhrozenFire

Do you 'take a bath', 'have a bath' or simply 'bathe'? Or are all three correct?

Nice one.

In India we incorrectly refer to the act of washing oneself with water as a bath. This confuses many westerners who refer to a shower as a shower and a bath is where one soaks himself/herself in a bathtub.

It is a habit that I have too. When I first told Jenny I was going in for a bath, she stared at my rather small bathroom and said "But you have no bathtub in there!"

To answer your question, one can take a bath or bathe, both would be correct. (Have a bath sounds wrong to me, but I suspect it is correct too) However one would need to immerse himself in water to bathe. Or take a bath.

If that is not your intention, you would be better off taking a shower. Assuming you had a shower in the bathroom.

If you were washing yourself with a bucket of water and a large mug, it would definitely NOT be a bath. I wonder what the correct word would be then. Anup? Nick?

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

In fact, you can, even more simply, bath.

I don't know Nick, that does not sound right to me. I don't think you can bath. It does not sound right as a verb used like that (though I know bath would also be a verb) You can bathe I don't think you can bath. Perhaps you can bath something, but to end the sentence with that doesn't sound right.

I'm willing to be wrong though.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

If you were washing yourself with a bucket of water and a large mug, it would definitely NOT be a bath. I wonder what the correct word would be then. Anup? Nick?

wash might work. in indian context bath is perfectly fine though. otherwise 90% of us indians would never bath.

--off topic, I hate firefox' spell check now, I have never been so careless while writing. every time I just assume firefox will correct it for me.

[Mpower]

Looks like its fashionable now in India (or is it just Bandra?) to say
'All of you all' ............when addresing a group of people in a party.

This guy from Bombay was saying it here and all the Americans thought he was gay.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I'm willing to be wrong though.

You're wrong!

Never been too hot on transitive and intransitive, but the Concise Oxford says it is a v.t and a v.i. Definitions include 'take a bath' as well as bathing something else, eg your baby.

If you feel like explaining transitive and intransitive, that would be nice



...and I know exactly what Jenny meant, with the but you haven't got a bath-tub thing!


...and to bring the word take back into the topic, what I do these days (when my wife tells me I smell) is, in Tamil English, to take bath.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Looks like its fashionable now in India (or is it just Bandra?) to say
'All of you all' ............when addresing a group of people in a party.

This guy from Bombay was saying it here and all the Americans thought he was gay.

I'd think he was just badly spoken and gay. I've never heard the term "All of you all" - I'm a Bandra boy.
I think it's just stupid and really bad English. I don't think it's common to say it though.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

You're wrong!

Never been too hot on transitive and intransitive, but the Concise Oxford says it is a v.t and a v.i. Definitions include 'take a bath' as well as bathing something else, eg your baby.

Yes, as a transitive and intransitive verb, you could either take a bath or bathe something else.
I do not think you could however, bath. You could bathe instead.

I have purposely deleted the rest of your quote, lol

[Thad E Ginathom]

nope. really, I promise you, I have been bathing, occasionally, all my English life. You really can bath! Or bath the baby.

I would bathe a wound: I wouldn't bathe my cat; I'd bath her!

Curious language!

"all you all" I've never hear, and never hope to. The American y'all has American charm, but I think it has to be said with the right accent, and the correct (Southern?) American usage to be carried off.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

nope. really, I promise you, I have been bathing, occasionally, all my English life. You really can bath! Or bath the baby.

I would bathe a wound: I wouldn't bathe my cat; I'd bath her!

Bathing is fine. But I would have trouble if I had to bath the baby.

AH well then, I'll be damned and concur

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

but I think it has to be said with the right accent, and the correct (Southern?) American usage to be carried off.

Yup. You must have the Clinton drawl to carry a y'all off.

I say Nick, do you think there's a reason why drawl and y'all rhyme?

[aah78]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The American y'all has American charm, but I think it has to be said with the right accent, and the correct (Southern?) American usage to be carried off.

There's this Southern American chef, Paula Deen, on the Food Network. She stresses the y'all to such a length that makes it very very irritating to listen to.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

If you were washing yourself with a bucket of water and a large mug, it would definitely NOT be a bath. I wonder what the correct word would be then.

Ablution?
That should be it.
It is a bath, in the Indian context, only if you were to immerse yourself in the holy Ganga!

Most of the time, however, all the abovementioned exercises/rituals are given a convenient miss, to keep the national trait of B.O. going strong!

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

Most of the time, however, all the abovementioned exercises/rituals are given a convenient miss, to keep the national trait of B.O. going strong!

I find Indians a lot cleaner than countrymen of a certain developed nation.
No, regular travellers to Europe will have already guessed what great nation of stinkers I'm talking about.

Hint: Their nationals rhyme with stench. lol

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Hint: Their nationals rhyme with stench. lol

You refer to the west, O Yeti. I cannot disagree.
Eastward we have garlic oozing from every pore, from those that inhabit another developed nation!

[PAVAN KADAM]

Never seen this thread guys.

It's Insanely, perfect.

Thanks Sam, Learnt a lot for the past 20 mins.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Oh, and bathing, as in taking a bath is pronounced bath-ing, not bathe-ing!

In my 1950s childhood, I used to bath once a week. It wasn't unusual, and I did come from an upper-middle class, clean family, with a bathroom and a plumbed-in bath and everything. Mind you, it was also a rural situation, and there was just much less pollution and muck around.

Whilst the English, at that time, might have liked like to quote, "cleanliness is next to godliness" it was never, unlike in some Indian families, actually a religious part of the day.

I think this part of Indian tradition makes a big difference.