You Go, Girl

I saw an ad the other day which had to do with guys not being able to go, or having to go often, or getting up several times a night to go.

Be right back; I gotta go.

The new English-speaker says, “Go? What do you mean by ‘go’?”

So you explain that it means you have to, uh, take a leak (or words to that effect). Short for “go to the bathroom.” But somewhere between coarse and refined society, it’s the acceptable term for that particular bodily function. You really don’t need to spell it out.

When I was a lot younger, it was common to hear someone say, “I have to see a man about a dog.” It was a very old expression, used to excuse oneself for a greater or, usually, lesser amount of time. Generally, it carried the same weight as “I gotta go,” and I would imagine that it’s seldom heard these days.

Euphemisms; how could we get along without them? There are certain things you just don’t mention, so you talk around them; in the old days, we would sort of dance around them and hope people would get the idea.

Now it seems we see ads for products that take care of all sorts of difficulties that occur between the neck and the knees. Even the fart-controlling Beano.