Meaning & Analysis
A 17th-century slang term for a privy or an outhouse, as defined by the contemporary quotation 'The house of office.' An 'ordinary' was a tavern serving a fixed-price meal, and 'Scotch' was used pejoratively to imply extreme frugality or baseness.
Insights
Social Satire
The phrase functions as a satirical commentary on ethnic prejudice, using the stereotype of Scottish parsimony to create a crude joke about the most 'economical' place one can frequent.
Ironic Juxtaposition
It represents the ironic elevation of the mundane. The proverb assigns the name of a social eatery to a place of private bodily functions, humorously contrasting public life with biological necessity.
Coded Language
As a form of coded language, it speaks to the use of innuendo and slang within a specific cultural context to refer to subjects considered impolite for direct conversation.
Historical Stereotyping
The proverb is a piece of 17th-century English slang, reflecting prevalent anti-Scottish sentiment. The humor derives from the ethnic stereotype of Scottish people as being excessively frugal, implying that their 'ordinary' (a tavern with a fixed-price meal) is the most basic, 'no-cost' facility imaginable: a public toilet.
Euphemistic Humor
This phrase exemplifies the era's fondness for coarse, euphemistic humor. By elevating a mundane and vulgar location (a privy) with the name of a social establishment ('ordinary'), it creates a satirical juxtaposition that finds humor in the basest aspects of human life.
Psychology of Taboo
The term reflects a psychological tendency to use coded language and humor to address taboo subjects like bodily functions. Naming a privy after a public-house domesticates the unpleasant and makes it a subject of communal jest.
Rhetorical Devices
Euphemism
The entire phrase is a euphemism, using the respectable term 'ordinary' to stand in for the more vulgar 'privy' or 'toilet'.
Irony
The humor is built on the ironic contrast between the expectation set by the word 'ordinary' (a place to eat) and its actual meaning in this context (a place to excrete).
Satirical Stereotype
The term employs a national stereotype ('Scotch') as a satirical device to generate humor, which was a common feature of English wit in the period.
Transcription
Quotations
*The house of office.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.