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Toilets
Friday, May 25th, 2012 | Posted by Garen Yegparian Share Print
asbarez
Garen Yegparian
Bathroom, boys'/girls'/men's/women's room, can, crapper, head, john,
latrine, lavatory, loo, outhouse, potty, powder room, washroom, WC,
ardaknotz, bedkaran, cordzaran, lvatzaran, zookaran... with so many
words for it, you'd think these places would be ubiquitous, easily
available.
It turns out, they're not. At least not in the Republic of Armenia,
and not where they're most needed.
This stinky situation came up last night at a program with Edik
Baghdasaryan, of Hetq.am - the investigative journalism publication in
Armenia.
An expert in tourism, a man who has been in the travel industry for
decades, broached this subject. He noted that he'd raised this issue
with the relevant authorities, and his entreaties and proposals had
gone unheeded.
Tellingly, Edik cringed as he described dreading `the question' when
he had visiting friends with him at touristic sites in Armenia. He
noted that neither our greatest churches nor other touristic
attractions have conveniently located facilities for when his guests
needed to go. He also said they'd addressed this issue at Hetq.
Finally, he suggested starting a campaign for toilets in Armenia.
So here it is... the first odoriferous salvo in the great toilet war.
Please, start telling the Armenia Fund, church leaders, enemies,
friends, government officials, hosts, hotels, organizations,
parliamentarians, political parties, relatives, and basically anybody
else that will listen `we want toilets'.
For a country that is betting on tourism as one of the drivers of its
economic growth, the absence of toilets is inconceivable. It's high
time the Front for Armenia's Respectable Toilets (FART) was
established!
Of course we all know that every joke has its kernel of seriousness,
so despite the humorous way this piece is written in (hopefully you
agree), I am very serious that we must act on this issue and bring it
to a positive, beneficial, bathroom-building conclusion.
Let's do this folks, let's embarrass the Armenia's leaders into doing
the right thing for the country, its tourist industry's visitors, and
all our bowels and bladders.
From: Baghdasarian
Friday, May 25th, 2012 | Posted by Garen Yegparian Share Print
asbarez
Garen Yegparian
Bathroom, boys'/girls'/men's/women's room, can, crapper, head, john,
latrine, lavatory, loo, outhouse, potty, powder room, washroom, WC,
ardaknotz, bedkaran, cordzaran, lvatzaran, zookaran... with so many
words for it, you'd think these places would be ubiquitous, easily
available.
It turns out, they're not. At least not in the Republic of Armenia,
and not where they're most needed.
This stinky situation came up last night at a program with Edik
Baghdasaryan, of Hetq.am - the investigative journalism publication in
Armenia.
An expert in tourism, a man who has been in the travel industry for
decades, broached this subject. He noted that he'd raised this issue
with the relevant authorities, and his entreaties and proposals had
gone unheeded.
Tellingly, Edik cringed as he described dreading `the question' when
he had visiting friends with him at touristic sites in Armenia. He
noted that neither our greatest churches nor other touristic
attractions have conveniently located facilities for when his guests
needed to go. He also said they'd addressed this issue at Hetq.
Finally, he suggested starting a campaign for toilets in Armenia.
So here it is... the first odoriferous salvo in the great toilet war.
Please, start telling the Armenia Fund, church leaders, enemies,
friends, government officials, hosts, hotels, organizations,
parliamentarians, political parties, relatives, and basically anybody
else that will listen `we want toilets'.
For a country that is betting on tourism as one of the drivers of its
economic growth, the absence of toilets is inconceivable. It's high
time the Front for Armenia's Respectable Toilets (FART) was
established!
Of course we all know that every joke has its kernel of seriousness,
so despite the humorous way this piece is written in (hopefully you
agree), I am very serious that we must act on this issue and bring it
to a positive, beneficial, bathroom-building conclusion.
Let's do this folks, let's embarrass the Armenia's leaders into doing
the right thing for the country, its tourist industry's visitors, and
all our bowels and bladders.
From: Baghdasarian