So, the question has been asked, what is it about going to visit Mrs.Murphy? Well, I can't speak for other people, but this phrase has been in my family for years...generations, in fact. It goes back to my grandmother, and probably my great-grandmother. My grandmother, was Marie Murphy.She always used this phrase, this euphamism, to declare her intention to make her way to the rest room, and this is why. She was born in an era where there was no indoor plumbing. Instead of 4 bedrooms and a bath, they had 4 bedrooms and a path. But, being ladies, they did not speak of such things in gross terms. As was usual, women would meet each other and talk in the midst of the day over the back fence...so her reference to visiting Mrs. Murphy was in that vein. She would then go to the privy, and perhaps, on her way back, stop to talk to a neighbor...or maybe not, after all, she was Ms. Murphy too! My mother used this euphamism during her lifetime, because it was more polite, and a bit more private, if not even more mystifying that way, and I use it now, because it just comes naturally, and it sounds nicer than any of the other alternatives.
Now, if you will excuse me, I have just taken a water pill, and I have to go visit Mrs. Murphy!
OUI?
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