Outhouse

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Outhouse near Crabapple Lake, United States, with chipboard walls, and a fiberglass ceiling

An outhouse, (also known as a privy or kybo) usually refers to a type of toilet in a small structure separate from the main building which does not have a flush or sewer attached.

1 Terminology
2 Design and construction
3 Popular Culture
4 See also
5 Literature
6 External links

[edit] Terminology

The term outhouse originally referred to an outbuilding, or any small structure away from a main building, used for a variety of purposes, but mainly for activities not wanted in the main house. Outhouses are used for storage, animals, and cooking, to name a few uses. Larger structures have names such as barn or stable.

In North American English, an outhouse (sometimes also called a backhouse) is now a small enclosure around a pit that is used as a toilet.

Brisbane, in Australia was largely unsewered until the early 1970s, with many suburbs having outhouses behind each house

In Australia the outdoor toilet is frequently referred to as a "dunny" or "thunderbox", or more euphemistically as "earth closets", to distinguish them from water closets, or flush toilets. Waste deposited in earth closets was also euphemistically referred to as "nightsoil". In suburban areas not connected to sewerage, such outhouses were not built over pits. Instead, waste was collected into large cans, or "dunny-cans", which were positioned under the toilet, to be collected by contractors (or "nightsoil collectors") hired by the local council. Collected waste matter would then be removed from the premises and disposed of elsewhere. The contractors would replace the used cans with empty, cleaned cans. Until the 1970s Brisbane relied heavily on this form of sanitation.

The term "kybo" is popular within the Scout Movement worldwide. The word is believed by some to have originated as an acronym for "Keep Your Bowels Open" although there is some possibility that it is a backronym. The term "kybo" may have originated at the Farm and Wilderness Camps in Vermont where it came from the coffee cans (Kybo brand coffee) that held the lye or more often lime used to keep odor to a minimum. It was only after Kybo coffee was no longer available and the cans were no longer used that folks began to come up with other possible reasons for the term "kybo". The term biffy is sometimes encountered in the context of U.S. Girl Scouting, and may have originated with the "BFI" logo of what was at one time Browning-Ferris Industries (now part of Allied Waste Industries), a waste collection company whose trade lines in some markets include the servicing of portable toilets. An alternate explanation: when backpackers prepare a cathole or trench latrine in their overnight campsite (even embellishing it with fresh-cut flowers), they call it the BIFF - Bathroom In Forest Floor. A backpacking group will carry a zip-lock bag with a trowel, toilet paper, and a lighter (to burn the used tissue); this bag is known as "the BIFF key".

Kybos are firmly woven into the lore of RAGBRAI, the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. Although Kybo portable toilets were eventually replaced by other brands, the term "kybo" is still commonly used. "Kybo Roulette," where riders waiting in line guess which toilet door will open next, is a common and celebrated diversion on the ride. See external link below to view "Adopt-A-Kybo" humor piece.

[edit] Design and construction

Squat outhouse (i.e. without seat) in Poland

Outhouses vary in design and construction. Common features usually include:

A separate structure from the main dwelling, close enough to allow easy access, but far enough to minimize smell.
Walls and a roof to shield the user from rain, wind, and thus to a small degree, cold weather.
Having a door, sometimes decorated with a small crescent moon-shaped hole [1]. The significance of the moon has never been fully explained. An article in Boy's Life magazine offered an explanation: the holes were fashioned so on the outhouses of a site where a Muslim retreat was being held, to keep the attendant's minds focused on their religion even when seated there.
In Germany, a heart-shaped hole is traditional. In recent centuries, the finer inns began offering "his" and "hers" outhouses. But, because most people were illiterate, symbols were used on the outhouses to show which was "his" and which was "hers". Pictures of the sun and moon were the obvious choice. From ancient times, the "sun" had been a symbol of all that was masculine and the "moon" of all that was feminine.

An outhouse exterior

In Western societies, there is at least one seat with a hole in it, above a small pit.
In Eastern societies, there is a hole in the floor, over which the user crouches.
A suitable distance away from any freshwater well, so as to minimize risk of contamination;
Sometimes having a roll of toilet paper available. Catalogs from retailers specializing in mail order purchases, such as the Montgomery Ward catalog, were also common before toilet paper was widely available, often kept in a can or other container to protect it from mice, etc. Old corn cobs, leaves, or other paper was also used.

[edit] Popular Culture

Two-story outhouse in Gays, Illinois

Outhouses are common throughout history. Outhouse humor is likewise a constant, which usually involves someone either being trapped in one, falling into the hole, or other social faux pas. Aside from generic bathroom jokes, some are specific to outhouses, such as this time-honored one-liner, which any rural sort might say, usually making fun of his background:

"We had a fire in the bathroom; luckily, it didn't spread to the house!"

One episode of The Simpsons makes mention of a two-story outhouse.

There was a small book published in the early 1900s, The Specialist by Chic Sale, which was just earthy enough to be a hugely popular "underground" success, and just tactfully worded enough to not risk being banned. Its entire premise centered on sales of outhouses, touting the advantages of one kind or another, and labeling them in "technical" terms such as "one-holers", "two-holers", etc.

Folksinger Billy Edd Wheeler wrote and performed a song titled "The Little Brown Shack Out Back," a surprisingly sentimental look at the outhouse. The song is often played on the Dr. Demento radio show.