Outhouse
An outhouse — known variously across the English-speaking world otherwise as bog, dunny, long-drop, or privy — is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet.
The World Health Organization recommends they be built a reasonable distance from the house balancing issues of easy access versus that of smell.
The primary purpose of the building is for privacy and human comfort, and the walls and roof provide a visual screen and some protection from the elements.
Others, often in more rural, older areas in European countries, simply have a hole with two indents on either side for the user's feet.
There are authors who claim the practice began during the colonial period as an early "mens"/"ladies" designation for an illiterate populace (the sun and moon being popular symbols for the sexes during those times).
When properly built and maintained they can decrease the spread of disease by reducing the amount of human feces in the environment from open defecation.
Historically, this was known as the pail closet; the municipality employed workers, often known as "nightmen" (from night soil), to empty and replace the buckets.
[9] The system of municipal collection was widespread in Australia; "dunny cans" persisted well into the second half of the twentieth century, see below.
[citation needed] A similar system operates in India, where hundreds of thousands of workers engage in manual scavenging, i.e. emptying pit latrines and bucket toilets without any personal protective equipment.
[11][12][13] A variety of systems are used in some national parks and popular wilderness areas, to cope with the increased volume of people engaged in activities such as mountaineering and kayaking.
The growing popularity of paddling, hiking, and climbing has created special waste disposal issues throughout the world.
[citation needed] Outhouse design, placement, and maintenance has long been recognized as being important to the public health.
[citation needed] Both of these are undesirable pests to humans, but can be easily controlled without chemicals by enclosing the top of the pit with tight-fitting boards or concrete, using a sufficiently sealed toilet hole cover that is closed after every use, and by using fine-grid insect screen to cover the inlet and outlet vent holes.
[citation needed] It is common (at least in the United States) for outhouses to have a bucket or a bag of powdered lime with a scoop of some kind in it.
Either before or after using the outhouse (usually after but sometimes both) a scoop or two of lime is sprinkled into the lid holes to cover the waste as to suppress the odor which also can help with the insect issues.
[citation needed] Old outhouse pits are seen as excellent places for archeological and anthropological excavations, offering up a trove of common objects from the past—a veritable inadvertent time capsule—which yields historical insight into the lives of the bygone occupants.
[46] For example, an opulent 19th century antebellum example (a three-holer) is at the plantation area at the state park in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
[47] The outhouses of Colonial Williamsburg varied widely, from simple expendable temporary wood structures to high-style brick.
[48] Such outhouses are sometimes considered to be overbuilt, impractical and ostentatious, giving rise to the simile "built like a brick shithouse."
That phrase's meaning and application is subject to some debate; but (depending upon the country) it has been applied to men, women, or inanimate objects.
[citation needed] With regards to anal cleansing, old newspapers and mail order catalogs, such as those from Montgomery Ward or Sears Roebuck, were common before toilet paper was widely available.
[49] Outdoor toilets are referred to by many epithets and terms throughout the English-speaking world varying in levels of politeness and discretion of euphemism to the public taste.
This appears to have originated from camps which used Kybo brand coffee cans to hold lye or lime which was sprinkled down the hole to reduce odor.
[citation needed] In Poland the wooden outdoor toilets are commonly called "Sławojka", a name that refers to the former Prime Minister Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski who used to monitor scrupulously the implementation of the provisions imposed by the construction law of 1928, making it mandatory for outdoor toilet pits to be surrounded by walls.
This also becomes a more prevalent issue as urban and suburban development encroaches on rural areas,[62] and is an external manifestation of a deeper cultural conflict.
