In ancient times, why was going to the toilet called changing clothes .

A long time ago, rich families had to change their clothes when they went to the toilet. The toilet of Shi Chong's family, the richest man in the Southern Dynasty, was magnificently repaired, and there were generally more than a dozen maidservants dressed in colorful costumes who prepared nail decoction powder, agarwood juice, new clothes, etc., and stood at the door to greet them. When guests came to the house, they were embarrassed to go when they saw this kind of situation.

General Wang didn't care about all this, took off his clothes and went to the toilet, and after defecation, he came out wearing the new clothes prepared by the maidservant, his expression full of pride. From this detail, it is not difficult to see why the ancients would call going to the toilet "changing clothes".

"Dressing" is a euphemism for going to the toilet. Euphemism is a more subtle and decent way of saying something that is implicit about a phenomenon or event.

For example: Han Wangchong's "On Heng and the Four Secrets": "The room where the husband changes clothes can be described as stinky; The meat of abalone can be described as rotten.

However, there is a room for changing clothes, and it is not taboo; Eat the meat of carrion, do not be ashamed. "It means the room where you go to the toilet, which can be said to be smelly; The meat of the abalone can be said to be rotten. However, going to the toilet should not be taboo; I don't think there is anything taboo about the meat of scavenging fish.

The fourth and third chapters of Ming Shi Nai'an's "Water Margin": "Cao Taigong pushed the road to change his clothes and hurriedly went to Lizheng's house. It means that Mrs. Cao excused himself and said that he wanted to go to the toilet, and hurriedly came to Lizheng's house.

Other euphemisms: 1. Ancient, Returning to Heaven, Returning to the West, Soul Wandering to the Underworld, Eternal Sleep, Long Sleep, Smiling Nine Springs, Impermanence, Immortal Death - refers to human death.

2. Hanging flowers and hanging colors - refers to a person who has suffered a gunshot wound.

3. Ascension - a euphemism for the death of the emperor.

4. Sitting, death, nirvana - refers to the death of monks and nuns.

5. Beggar bones - ancient officials asked for resignation, which meant that the bones had to be buried in their hometown.

6. Seeing the back - the opposite side left me. Refers to the death of a parent or elder.

7. Bow to the ground, bow to the ground. It is used for the beginning and end of letters and performances.

6. Through the ages - mourn the deceased and say goodbye.

9. Enemies - people who seem to hate but really love, bring distress to themselves and are reluctant (in old operas or folk songs, they are mostly used to call lovers).

10, Huaichun - refers to the girl's love for the opposite sex.

11. Abandonment - refers to the death of both parents.

The word "changing" means changing clothes and trying on clothes, and sometimes it has the meaning of a woman going to the toilet, because it sounds indecent, even if it is renamed "changing clothes", it is equivalent to "washing hands" at this time, so it is easy to cause ambiguity. There is also an allusion about "changing clothes", from Luo Bingwang's famous text "Seeking Wu Cao", saying that Wu's "changing clothes into the service", changing clothes refers to a kind of low-level palace maid, so the matter is ambiguous, or less is better.

Untie your hands, when the ancient slaves were sold, they were all tied one by one. When lining up to rush to the "exchange", because it is inevitable to be anxious along the way, it is necessary to untie the rope on the hand in advance, and Gu "unties" is named. This is an episode from my junior high school teacher's history lecture.

Remain fresh in one's memory. It should be in the ancient history of the Middle Ages, just for talking after tea and dinner

It seems to be called "Degong".

Civilization euphemism.

Subtle, euphemistic.