full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Francis de los Reyes: A brief history of toilets

Unscramble the Blue Letters


On sunny days, the Roman ctzeinis of otsia could be found on a long sntoe bench near the fuorm. Friends and neighbors eecahxngd news and gossip while simultaneously attending to more... urgent business. These public latrines could sit up to 20 Romans at a time, draining waste in water conduits below. Today, most cultures consider tirps to the restroom to be a more private ociacosn. But even when going alone, our shraed sewage infrastructure is one of the most pivotal iivnneonts in the history of humanity.

While many aniecnt religious ttxes contain instructions for keeping waste away from drinking water and campsites, waste management took a more familiar shape as early as 3000 BCE. Ancient Mesopotamian settlements often had clay structures made for stnuaitqg or sitting in the most private room of the house. These were connected to pipes which used running water to move waste into street canals and cesspits. Water infrastructure like this frsloehuid in the Bronze Age, and in some parts of the Indus Valley, nearly every house had a toilet connected to a citywide sweage system. Ancient Cretan palaces even offered a manual flushing option.

Open Cloze


On sunny days, the Roman ________ of _____ could be found on a long _____ bench near the _____. Friends and neighbors _________ news and gossip while simultaneously attending to more... urgent business. These public latrines could sit up to 20 Romans at a time, draining waste in water conduits below. Today, most cultures consider _____ to the restroom to be a more private ________. But even when going alone, our ______ sewage infrastructure is one of the most pivotal __________ in the history of humanity.

While many _______ religious _____ contain instructions for keeping waste away from drinking water and campsites, waste management took a more familiar shape as early as 3000 BCE. Ancient Mesopotamian settlements often had clay structures made for _________ or sitting in the most private room of the house. These were connected to pipes which used running water to move waste into street canals and cesspits. Water infrastructure like this __________ in the Bronze Age, and in some parts of the Indus Valley, nearly every house had a toilet connected to a citywide ______ system. Ancient Cretan palaces even offered a manual flushing option.

Solution


  1. ostia
  2. ancient
  3. exchanged
  4. sewage
  5. trips
  6. forum
  7. flourished
  8. squatting
  9. shared
  10. inventions
  11. citizens
  12. occasion
  13. stone
  14. texts

Original Text


On sunny days, the Roman citizens of Ostia could be found on a long stone bench near the Forum. Friends and neighbors exchanged news and gossip while simultaneously attending to more... urgent business. These public latrines could sit up to 20 Romans at a time, draining waste in water conduits below. Today, most cultures consider trips to the restroom to be a more private occasion. But even when going alone, our shared sewage infrastructure is one of the most pivotal inventions in the history of humanity.

While many ancient religious texts contain instructions for keeping waste away from drinking water and campsites, waste management took a more familiar shape as early as 3000 BCE. Ancient Mesopotamian settlements often had clay structures made for squatting or sitting in the most private room of the house. These were connected to pipes which used running water to move waste into street canals and cesspits. Water infrastructure like this flourished in the Bronze Age, and in some parts of the Indus Valley, nearly every house had a toilet connected to a citywide sewage system. Ancient Cretan palaces even offered a manual flushing option.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
waste management 3
public latrines 2
sewage infrastructure 2
roman empire 2


Important Words


  1. age
  2. ancient
  3. attending
  4. bce
  5. bench
  6. bronze
  7. business
  8. campsites
  9. canals
  10. cesspits
  11. citizens
  12. citywide
  13. clay
  14. conduits
  15. connected
  16. cretan
  17. cultures
  18. days
  19. draining
  20. drinking
  21. early
  22. exchanged
  23. familiar
  24. flourished
  25. flushing
  26. forum
  27. friends
  28. gossip
  29. history
  30. house
  31. humanity
  32. indus
  33. infrastructure
  34. instructions
  35. inventions
  36. keeping
  37. latrines
  38. long
  39. management
  40. manual
  41. mesopotamian
  42. move
  43. neighbors
  44. news
  45. occasion
  46. offered
  47. option
  48. ostia
  49. palaces
  50. parts
  51. pipes
  52. pivotal
  53. private
  54. public
  55. religious
  56. restroom
  57. roman
  58. romans
  59. room
  60. running
  61. settlements
  62. sewage
  63. shape
  64. shared
  65. simultaneously
  66. sit
  67. sitting
  68. squatting
  69. stone
  70. street
  71. structures
  72. sunny
  73. system
  74. texts
  75. time
  76. today
  77. toilet
  78. trips
  79. urgent
  80. valley
  81. waste
  82. water