Ireland has long been known for its strange slang (俚语) words and unusual use of the English language.
One expression-"the Jacks" -has long been used to describe the everyday toilet. Every Irish person knows what this term means, but few know they use it. In fact, it's difficult to find a dependable explanation. There are different stories behind this term, and one of them goes like this.
While Thomas Crapper is commonly known for inventing the first flushing (冲水) toilet in the late 1800s, the first ever multi-cubicle (多隔间) toilet dates back to 1806 to an Irish inventor by the name of Jack Power. Jack Power, a father of 38 children, was the first person in the world to develop a separate cubicle.
Due to the size of his family, Jack had to create something to meet their needs of using the toilet at the same time, so he built a large outhouse with five separate toilets. Following its success at home, Jack went on to produce cubicles for business and soon became very rich.
In 1811, Jack Power was named as one of Ireland's richest businessmen, but the fame and wealth soon brought something unpleasant. Jack patented (取得专利) his multiple toilet system and insisted on calling it a "Multipoo", but the people of Ireland preferred "Jacks" instead—a term first used by his children. This made Jack unhappy because he never liked his name having anything to do with going to the toilet. The more he insisted, the more people called the cubicle system "the Jacks".
Unable to stand what the Irish people had done, Jack later changed his name and moved to the UK with his family. There he began inventing new toilet systems and became the world's leading producer of toilet systems, which are still in operation today.
Whether this story is true or not is still open to question. All we can say for sure is that in Ireland today, "the Jacks" is still a term used to describe a toilet.
